Eurovision Song Contest 2022
The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is set to be the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It will 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 the final on 14 May 2022.[1]
This will be the third time that Italy hosts the contest (having previously hosted the 1965 edition in Naples and the 1991 one 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-one countries will take part in the contest, with Armenia and Montenegro returning after their absences from the previous edition.[2]
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 ice rink, such as ice hockey and curling). PalaOlimpico has previously hosted the ice hockey events at the 2006 Winter Olympics.[3]
Preparations for the 2022 contest began on 23 May 2021, immediately after Italy won the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Martin Österdahl, the executive supervisor of the contest on behalf of the EBU, handed RAI, the Italian participating broadcaster, a stack of documents and a USB drive with tools to begin the work needed to host the next contest.[4]
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,[5][6][7] 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.[8] The mayors of Rome, Rimini and Florence soon after also expressed interest in hosting the contest[9][10][11] and were joined by Sanremo, Verona and Bari.[11][12][13] Marco Di Maio, 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.[14]
