Sanremo Music Festival 2011

Sanremo Music Festival 2011
Dates
Semi-final 1	15 February 2011
Semi-final 2	16 February 2011
Semi-final 3	17 February 2011
Semi-final 4	18 February 2011
Final	19 February 2011
Host
Venue	Teatro Ariston Sanremo, Italy
Presenter(s)	Gianni Morandi and Luca Bizzarri, Paolo Kessisoglu, Belén Rodríguez, Elisabetta Canalis
Musical director	Marco Sabiu
Artistic director	Gianmarco Mazzi
Host broadcaster	Rai 1
Vote
Voting system	Mixed (televotes, jury and orchestra votes)
Big Artists section
Number of entries	14
Winner	Roberto Vecchioni "Chiamami ancora amore"
Newcomers' section
Number of entries	8
Winner	Raphael Gualazzi "Follia d'amore"
2010 ← Sanremo Music Festival → 2012

The Sanremo Music Festival 2011 (Italian: Festival di Sanremo 2011), officially the 61st Italian Song Festival (61º Festival della canzone italiana), was the 61st annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo between 15 and 19 February 2011 and broadcast by Rai 1. The festival was presented by singer Gianni Morandi with Paolo Kessisoglu, Luca Bizzarri, Belén Rodríguez and Elisabetta Canalis,^[1] while artistic director was Gianmarco Mazzi.^[2]

The competition was divided in two sections. The Big Artists section, including 14 established Italian artists, was won by Roberto Vecchioni with the song "Chiamami ancora amore", while the Newcomers section was won by Raphael Gualazzi, performing "Follia d'amore".

For the first time since 1997, the festival also served as the Italian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, with the country returning to the competition after being absent for 13 editions. The Italian entry, also "Follia d'amore" by Gualazzi (in a new version titled "Madness of Love"), was chosen among the contestants by a specific jury, composed of Gianni Morandi, Rai 1 director Mauro Mazza, Rai 2 director Massimo Liofredi, the mayor of Sanremo Maurizio Zoccarato, the municipality's promotional board member Giorgio Giuffra and director of international affairs Marco Simeon.^[3]