Sanremo Music Festival 2009

The Sanremo Music Festival 2009 (Festival di Sanremo 2009), officially the 59th Italian Song Festival (59º Festival della canzone italiana), was the 59th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo between 17 and 21 February 2009, and broadcast by Rai 1. It was hosted by Paolo Bonolis and Luca Laurenti. Bonolis, supported by Gianmarzo Mazzi, was also the artistic director of the contest.

The competition was divided into two different sections. The Big Artists section included sixteen well-known singers, performing a previously unheard song, and it was won by Marco Carta's "La forza mia". The Newcomers section, featuring ten debuting or little known artists, was won by Arisa, performing the song "Sincerità". For the first time, a third section was added. Called Sanremofestival.59, it was completely held through the web, and it was won by Ania with the song "Buongiorno gente".

The first half of the inaugural episode was the most viewed TV programme in Italy in 2009, with more than 14 million viewers. The last night of the show was also broadcast live by RTV21 in Albania, RTK in Kosovo and by RSI in Switzerland.

Presenters and personnel
The presenter of the festival, Paolo Bonolis, was announced during a press conference on 11 September 2008 by Rai 1 director Fabrizio Del Noce. Bonolis was also the artistic director of the show, while Gianmarco Mazzi was the musical director of the contest.

Bonolis later confirmed Luca Laurenti, his long-time stage partner, as the co-presenter of the show. During each night, they were joined by a male model and a female celebrity co-presenting the show—Paul Sculfor and Alessia Piovan on the first night, Nir Lavi and Eleonora Abbagnato on the second one, Thyago Alves and Gabriella Pession on the third night, Ivan Olita on the fourth night, David Gandy and Maria De Filippi on the final.

During the show, the Sanremo Festival Orchestra was directed by Bruno Santori. The scenography was created by Gaetano Castelli, while the authors of the show were Barbara Cappi, Cesare Lanza, Marco Salvati and Sergio Rubino.

Newcomers section
Two of the artists competing in the newcomers section were selected through the contest SanremoLab, organized by the Comune di Sanremo. During the first step of the contest, eight artists were selected by a jury composed of Massimo Cotto, Franco Zanetti, Paolo Giordano, Massimo Poggini, Andrea Rodini and Maurilio Giordana. The winners—Emily Novak, Simona Molinari, Elisa Casile, Arisa, Edea, Manola Moslehi, Federica Celio and Erika Mineo—were announced on 5 December 2008. On 11 December 2008, they auditioned in front of a different jury, presided by Paolo Bonolis and Gianmarco Mazzi, and on the following day Arisa and Simona Molinari were announced as the first two confirmed competing artists in the Newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2009.

The remaining eight artists—Karima Ammar, Silvia Aprile, Irene Fornaciari, Iskra, Filippo Perbellini, Chiara Canzian, Malika Ayane and Barbara Gilbo—were chosen through an internal selection, and announced on 22 December 2008, together with the list of participants in the "Big Artists" section.

Big Artists section
All the artists in the Big Artists section were selected through an internal selection. 104 songs were submitted for the selection, and the sixteen chosen artists—Afterhours, Albano, Alexia with Mario Lavezzi, Marco Carta, Dolcenera, Gemelli Diversi, Fausto Leali, Nicky Nicolai with Stefano Di Battista, Patty Pravo, Povia, Pupo with Paolo Belli and Youssou N'Dour, Francesco Renga, Sal da Vinci, Francesco Tricarico and Iva Zanicchi—were announced on 22 December 2008, together with the selected songs.

Newcomers section

 * Winner: Arisa with "Sincerità".

Sanremofestival.59
The contest Sanremofestival.59 was a singing contest held through the web and strictly related to the Sanremo Music Festival 2009. 470 songs were submitted and published on the official website of the Sanremo Music Festival. Each artist was later auditioned by a jury composed of Paolo Bonolis, Gianmarco Mazzi, Gigio D'Ambrosio, Mariolina Simone and Maria Cristina De Amicis, and 100 songs were admitted to the next stage of the competition.

The winner of the contest was determined by the public's vote only. On 19 February 2012, it was announced that Ania placed first with the song "Buongiorno gente". During the last night of the show, she received the award and she performed her song at the Teatro Ariston.

Controversy
Povia's entry "Luca era gay" ("Luca was gay"), went on to place second at the festival, was considered by some gay rights organizations as an anti-gay song. The controversy was also based on the name of the song's character: according to Aurelio Mancuso, president of the Arcigay, the name refers to Luca Tolvi, who claimed that Joseph Nicolosi cured his homosexuality. Povia denied this thesis and claimed that the song is about a man he met on a train, whose real name was Massimiliano.