Eurovision Song Contest 2022

The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is the upcoming 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is set to take place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the 2021 contest with the song "Zitti e buoni" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), the contest will be held at the PalaOlimpico, and will consist of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2022. The three live shows will be hosted by Italian television presenter Alessandro Cattelan, singer Laura Pausini and Lebanese-British singer Mika.

This will be the third time that Italy hosts the contest (having previously hosted the 1965 edition in Naples and the 1991 edition in Rome), as well as the first EBU event to be held in the country since the last edition of Jeux sans frontières in 1999.

Forty countries will take part in the contest, with Armenia and Montenegro returning after their absences from the previous edition. Russia had originally planned to participate, but has been excluded because of its invasion of Ukraine.

The 2022 contest will take place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the 2021 edition with the song "Zitti e buoni", performed by Måneskin. It will be the third time that Italy hosts the contest, having previously done so for the 1965 and 1991 contests, held in Naples and Rome respectively. The selected venue is the 13,300-seat PalaOlimpico, a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Santa Rita district, which serves as a venue for events including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs, conferences, and sports (mainly those requiring an ice rink, such as ice hockey and curling). PalaOlimpico has previously hosted the ice hockey events at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and the opening ceremonies of the 2007 Winter Universiade and will host the same event in 2025. The venue is expected to return to its full capacity for the contest, after the previous edition in Rotterdam saw a limited audience of 3,500 people as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to the main venue, the host city will also organise side events in tandem with the contest. The Eurovision Village is the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors area during the event weeks, where it will be possible to watch performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. It is set to be located at Parco del Valentino and open from 6 to 15 May 2022. The "Turquoise Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, will take place at the Palace of Venaria on 8 May 2022.

Location of the selected host city (in blue), shortlisted cities (in green), other bidding cities (in red) and cities that expressed interest but ultimately did not bid (in grey) Between 23 and 28 May 2021, many cities across Italy expressed interest in hosting the contest. Representatives from the cities of Bologna, Milan, Pesaro, Naples and Turin voiced their interest, as well as the Mayor of Reggio Emilia, Luca Vecchi, who hoped to host the contest in the new RCF Arena, the largest open-air arena in Europe with a capacity of 100,000 spectators. The mayors of Rome, Rimini and Florence soon after also expressed interest in hosting the contest and were joined by Sanremo, Verona and Bari. Marco Di Maio [it], member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, also suggested that if Rimini were to host the contest, it should be a co-production with San Marino RTV.

Host broadcaster RAI launched the bidding process on 7 July 2021. In the first phase of this process, any interested cities were to present their bid through certified email by 12 July, after which RAI and the EBU would proceed to send all of them a bid book with more detailed requirements for the cities to submit their plans for review.

On 9 July 2021, the city of Turin officially announced its bid. On the same day, the city of Pesaro did the same, proposing the Vitrifrigo Arena as a possible venue to host the event. They were followed by Bologna and Jesolo on 12 July, and Rimini and Bertinoro (jointly with Forlì and Cesena) on 13 July. On 13 July, RAI announced that 17 cities had submitted their bid for hosting the contest and would be provided the following day with the bid books. They had until 4 August to draft and submit their detailed plans, which 11 cities did. On 24 August, it was reported that Bologna, Milan, Pesaro, Rimini and Turin would be the cities left in the running to host the contest.

The choice among them was meant to be announced by the end of August; however, this did not happen, and in mid-September Stefano Coletta [it], director of Rai 1, stated that the selection was behind time to ensure "transparency and precision". On 8 October 2021, the EBU and RAI announced Turin as the host city, with the PalaOlimpico as the chosen venue for the contest.

Key:  †  Host venue  ‡  Shortlisted   Presented the bid book

Production
The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 will be produced by the Italian public broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). The Italian government will allocate around €1.5 million as part of the budget needed to host the event, while the municipality of Turin and the regional government of Piedmont will, in total, contribute to around €10 million. Claudio Fasulo [it] and Simona Martorelli will serve as executive producers, while Cristian Biondani [it] and Duccio Forzano [it] will serve as directors of the three live shows.

Visual design
The theme art and slogan for the contest, "The Sound of Beauty", was unveiled on 21 January 2022, with further information revealed on 24 January. The artwork was built around the symmetrical structure and patterns of cymatics to convey the visual properties of sound, which also reflects Italian garden design, while the typography was inspired by early-20th century Italian poster art; the colours were drawn from those of the Italian flag.

Presenters
Italian news agency Adnkronos and TV magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni reported that television presenter Alessandro Cattelan, singers Laura Pausini and Mika were likely names to host. On 2 February 2022, the three were officially confirmed as presenters of the 2022 contest, after being special guests in the second night of the Sanremo Music Festival 2022. In addition, Gabriele Corsi [it], Cristiano Malgioglio, Mario Acampa [it] and Laura Carusino [it] will host the "Turquoise Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events.

Stage design
RAI and the EBU revealed the stage design for the 2022 contest on 18 February 2022. Designed by Rome-based stage designer Francesca Montinaro [it] and dubbed "The Sun Within", the stage design is based around the movements and light of a kinetic sun, with the ability to showcase theatrical motion. The design also features a working water cascade and a miniaturized recreation of an Italian garden in the green room. Montinaro has previous experience in stage design, having done so for the Sanremo Music Festival in 2013 and 2019. This marked the first time since 2016 that German stage designer Florian Wieder [de] did not design the Eurovision stage.

Entries
See also: Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest

For the second year in a row, delegations have the option to use pre-recorded backing vocals, though each delegation can still use backing singers – whether on or off stage – or a combination of live and recorded backing vocals. However, all lead vocals performing the melody of the song must still be live. The EBU will also require all national broadcasters to create a 'live-on-tape' backup recording prior to the contest which can be used if a participant is unable to travel to Turin, or subjected to quarantine on arrival. The 2022 contest will also see a tightening of the rules around song eligibility. Previously, the rules stated that the competing songs must not have been commercially released prior to 1 September of the previous year, now, a song may be ineligible to compete if it has been released to the public in any way, including live performances, before 1 September of the previous year. Enforcement of the rule is subject to the responsibility of the participating broadcasters.

Semi-final allocation draw
Palazzo Madama, host venue for the allocation draw of the 2022 contest The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 25 January 2022 at 12:00 CET, at Palazzo Madama. The thirty-six semi-finalists were divided over six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. The purpose of drawing from different pots is to reduce the chance of "bloc voting" and to increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final each of the five automatic qualifiers – "Big Five" countries France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom – will broadcast and vote in. The ceremony was hosted by Carolina Di Domenico and Mario Acampa, with Acampa replacing Gabriele Corsi who tested positive for COVID-19. It included the passing of the host city insignia from Ahmed Aboutaleb, the mayor of previous host city Rotterdam, to Stefano Lo Russo, the mayor of Turin.

Postcards
The "postcards" are 40-second video introductions shown on television whilst the stage is being prepared for the next contestant to perform their entry. Filming for the 2022 postcards reportedly began on 8 February in Perugia, and is taking place in various sites across Italy, in keeping with the "Sound of Beauty" theme of the contest. Reported filming locations have also included:


 * Burano, Venice, Veneto
 * Castel del Monte, Andria, Apulia
 * Civita di Bagnoregio, Viterbo, Lazio
 * Conero Regional Park [it], Ancona, Marche
 * Cortina d'Ampezzo, Belluno, Veneto
 * Mausoleum of Theodoric, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna
 * Merano, South Tyrol
 * Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Trentino
 * Old town of Perugia [it], Perugia, Umbria
 * Piazza del Popolo [it], Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna
 * Procida, Naples, Campania
 * Royal Palace of Caserta, Caserta, Campania
 * Scala dei Turchi, Agrigento, Sicily
 * Terni and the Marmore Falls, Umbria
 * Darsena Promenade, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna

Participating countries
Participating countries in the first semi-final

Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the first semi-final

Participating countries in the second semi-final

Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the second semi-final

The EBU initially announced on 20 October 2021 that 41 countries would participate in the 2022 contest. The list included all countries that participated in the 2021 contest, along with Armenia and Montenegro, both of which had last taken part in 2019. On 25 February 2022, the EBU announced that Russia was excluded from participating due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, thereby reducing the number of participating countries to 40.

Returning artists
The contest is set to feature four representatives who previously performed as lead artists for the same countries. Stoyan Yankoulov [bg], a member of Bulgaria's Intelligent Music Project, represented Bulgaria at the 2007 and 2013 contests alongside Elitsa Todorova. Zdob și Zdub represented Moldova in 2005 and 2011. Mahmood represented Italy in 2019. Ihor Didenchuk, a member of Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra, represented Ukraine in 2021 as a member of Go_A.

In addition, a former backing performer is set to compete as lead artist. Ihan Haydar, a member of Denmark's Reddi, represented Denmark in 2012 as a member of Soluna Samay's backup band.

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final will take place on 10 May 2022 at 21:00 (CEST). Seventeen countries will participate in the first semi-final. Those countries plus France and Italy will vote in this semi-final. Russia was originally allocated to participate in the second half of the semi-final, but was excluded from the contest due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Semi-final 2
The second semi-final will take place on 12 May 2022 at 21:00 (CEST). Eighteen countries will participate in the second semi-final. Those countries plus Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final.

Final
The final will take place on 14 May 2022 at 21:00 (CEST). Twenty-five countries will participate in the final, composing of the "Big Five" (among which is the host country Italy) and the ten best-ranked entries from each of the two semi-finals. All forty participating countries will vote in the final. Voting Simulator