Sanremo Music Festival 1967

Voting system

The vote in each show was conducted by a regional jury located in fifteen different Italian cities with fifteen members each, of which two thirds were required to be under the age of 25.^[10] The cities were chosen by random draw and differed in each show, totaling forty-five cities and six hundred and seventy-five jury members across all three shows.^[11] The regional jury decided on six qualifiers in each of the first two nights, with jury members giving one vote to four different songs.^[10][12] A special commission formed by ATA, composed of the festival's artistic director Gianni Ravera, the television director Lino Procacci [it], journalists Ugo Zatterin [it] and Lello Bersani [it], as well as the lawyer Luigi Bertolini, chose a seventh qualifier in each night from the songs not selected by the regional jury.^[10][13][14] As in previous editions, only the winner of the final was to be revealed and all other finalists declared tied runners-up.^[11]

First night

The first night took place on 26 January 1967 at 21:15 CET.^[20][33] Fifteen songs were performed and seven were selected for the final.

Second night

The second night took place on 27 January 1967 at 21:15 CET.^[20][36] Fifteen songs were performed and seven were selected for the final.

Final night

The final night took place on 28 January 1967 at 21:00 CET.^[20][27] The fourteen songs admitted to the final were performed again and a winner was chosen.

The winning song was "Non pensare a me [it]", written by Alberto Testa and Eros Sciorilli [it], and performed by Iva Zanicchi and Claudio Villa. This was Villa's fourth victory in the competition.^{[10][24][38][39]} All other finalists were announced as runners-up and the full results never officially revealed.^[10][38] However, according to widespread rumours, "Quando dico che ti amo [it]" performed by Annarita Spinaci [it] and Les Surfs was the second-place finisher, with "Proposta [it]" performed by I Giganti and The Bachelors, and "La musica è finita" performed by Ornella Vanoni and Mario Guarnera [it] among the top four.^{[10][24][38][39]}

Local broadcast

The final night was broadcast on Programma Nazionale (television) and Secondo Programma (radio) beginning at 21:00 CET,^[20][27] with the first two nights broadcast on Secondo Programma (television) and Secondo Programma (radio) at 21:15 CET.^[20][33][36] In Italy, the final was broadcast on television to an estimated 21.3 million viewers, with the first and second nights broadcast to an estimated 19.7 and 19.5 million viewers respectively.^[40]

International broadcast

The first half of the final was broadcast via the Eurovision and Intervision networks in other countries.^[11][38] The festival was reportedly broadcast in 57 countries.^[41] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

More information Country, Broadcaster ...

International broadcasters of the Sanremo Music Festival 1967

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Argentina	Canal 11[a]			[42]
Belgium	BRT	BRT[b]	Annemarie Van Dijck	[43]
	RTB	RTB[c]		[44]
Brazil	Rádio Jornal do Brasil [pt][d]			[45]
Bulgaria	BT	BT		[46]
Czechoslovakia	ČST	ČST		[47]
Germany	ARD	Deutsches Fernsehen[e]	Otto E. Rock	[48]
Hungary	MR	Kossuth Rádió		[49]
Poland	TP	TV Polska		[50]
Portugal	RTP	RTP		[51]
Soviet Union	CT USSR	Programme Two[f]		[52]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	TV DRS		[53]
		TSR	Georges Hardy [fr]	[54]
		TSI[g]		[55]
		Radio Monte Ceneri
United States	WPIX[h]			[56][57][58]
Yugoslavia	JRT	Televizija Beograd		[59]
		Televizija Ljubljana		[60]

Close

Death of Luigi Tenco

During the first night on 26 January, Luigi Tenco performed the song "Ciao amore, ciao" alongside French singer Dalida, which he had written himself. Before going on stage, Tenco was hesitant and had told presenter Mike Bongiorno that it could be his last performance.^[10][61][62] The song was eliminated from the competition by the regional jury, and was not chosen to advance by the special commission.^[62]

In the morning of 27 January, Tenco was found dead in his room at the Hotel Savoy in Sanremo. He died from a single gunshot wound to the head. The same night, his death was ruled as a suicide. He was apparently upset at his elimination from the competition, with a suicide note found in the hotel, presumably written by Tenco, explaining his death "as a gesture of dissent against the public who chose 'Io, tu e le rose' for the final night and against the commission that selected 'La rivoluzione'."^[61][63]

After his death, emergency meetings were held between RAI, ATA and record labels regarding the possible cancellation of the festival, but ultimately the event went on as planned.^[10][61][63] The death was only briefly addressed by Bongiorno at the start of the second night, without mentioning the singer's name.^[37] The case was reopened in 2005 and again in 2013, with the verdict remaining a suicide.^[64][65]