The Italian musician, Alessandro Mahmood, has raised eyebrows and resentment among the Italian right, by winning the festival award, San Remo, an Egyptian father, and an Italian mother.
At the beginning of February of every year, 10 million Italians watch television for five consecutive nights in which the events of this competition, inspired by the famous Eurovision competition, take place.
The festival began in 1951 in San Remo, and in its long years revealed great talents such as Eros Ramazzotti, Andrea Bocelli and Laura Bossini.
The judging panel at this sixty-ninth session of the festival decided to award Mahmood his song “Soldi”, although the public vote did not give him more than 14% versus 46% for his rival Ultimo.
Soon, the sites of communication broke through the debate.
“Mahmoud wins the title of the most beautiful Italian song?” Said right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, the powerful man in the current government, in a tweet on Twitter. If it was my own hand to choose Ultimo, “asking his followers to express their opinion.
“Take a stomach medication and you’ll be fine,” one user said.
“I am an Italian, I was born and raised in Milan, I am 100 percent Italian,” said Alessandro Mahmood, who opens the competition to represent Italy in Eurovision in May.
