ITALY The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is set to be the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will take place in Italy, following the country’s victory at the 2021 contest with the song “Zitti e buoni” 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, as well as the first Eurovision event to be held in the country since the last edition of Jeux Sans Frontières in 1999.

The contest is due to be organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI).

THE BIDDING PROCESS

On 7 July 2021, Italian host broadcaster RAI and the EBU launched the bidding process and published a list of criteria and requirements for the host city and venue:

• The venue must be available for at least 6 weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest;
• The venue must be indoors with air-conditioning, have a well-defined perimeter and an audience capacity in the main hall of around 8,000 – 10,000 during the event;
• The venue must have a main hall with the capacity to house the set and all other requirements needed to produce a high-level broadcast production and have ample space within easy access of the main hall to support additional production needs, such as a press center, delegation spaces, dressing rooms, artist facilities, staff facilities, hospitality, audience facilities, etc.;
• The host city must have an international airport no more than 90 minutes from the city;
• The host city must have over 2,000 hotel rooms in the area close to the event.
• In the first phase of this process, any interested cities were to present their bid through certified email by 12 July 2021, after which RAI and the EBU would proceed to send all of them a bid book with more detailed requirements in order to declare their formal availability and apply for review. Over the summer, RAI and the EBU will then choose the host city of the 2022 contest.

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 2021.

LEAKED DATES

The interesting thing is that Bologna’s bid seems to have leaked the dates for Eurovision 2022 as their bid offers a venue and logistics for May 10, 12, and 14.

BIDS & VENUES

• Bologna proposed Unipol Arena: Unipol Arena (previously known as Futurshow Station, PalaMalaguti, and originally Palasport Casalecchio) is an indoor sporting arena located in Casalecchio di Reno, Province of Bologna, Italy. The seating capacity of the arena for basketball games is 11,000 people, and the seating capacity for concerts is 20,000 people. It was opened in December 1993. It is currently home to the Virtus Bologna basketball team.
• Turin proposed Pala Alpitour: The Pala Alpitour (Palasport Olimpico or PalaIsozaki) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Santa Rita district of Turin, Italy. It is a few meters east of the Olympic Stadium. The arena has a seating capacity of 12,350 when it is configured for ice hockey, and it is the largest indoor sporting arena in Italy. The arena was originally built at a cost of €87 million, for the 2006 Winter Olympics, and along with the Torino Esposizioni, it hosted the ice hockey events. Since its opening, the Pala Alpitour has become one of Italy’s most booked venues for large-scale concerts. It is also the largest capacity venue in Italy for these types of events, with the allowed maximum capacities set at 15,657 for general admission center-stage concerts, and 13,347 maximum capacity for general admission end-stage concerts. On August 8, 2014, the arena was renamed Pala Alpitour.
• Pesaro proposed Vitrifrigo Arena: Vitrifrigo Arena, formerly known as Adriatic Arena and originally BPA Palas, is an indoor sports arena in Pesaro, Italy, home to the Victoria Libertas Pesaro professional basketball team of the Lega Basket Serie A. Its seating capacity is 10,300, making it the third-biggest indoor arena in Italy. Capacity for concerts rises to 13,000. Construction work began in 1993 and was completed in 1996. The venue was inaugurated with a recital by operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti. The venue is considered a futuristic construction, known to most as “the Spaceship”, or as “the ladybird” due to its external shell shape. It covers an area of 12,000 square meters and a land area of 13,000 square meters. The multi-purpose arena is equipped with a press stand, a room for video data, a system for satellite reception, various video stations, and an internal circuit control system. The venue also configures into a (much smaller) theater that is used each August for the world-renowned Rossini Opera Festival.
• Jesolo proposed PalaInvent: The bid is proposing the PalaInvent as the venue for the contest should Jesolo be selected. However, the proposed venue does meet the minimum criteria to host the contest as it can only host 4,000 people. The additional proposal of an outside contest is also ruled out due to the technical issues associated with such a venue.
• Rome (no available known yet)
• The city of Rimini with Rimini Expo Centre is another confirmed bid for hosting the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest. Mayor of Rimini, Mr. Andrea Gnassi says:The city of Rimini meets all the requirements set by RAI, it has an international airport to which more than 2 airports can be added within 60-90 minutes from the city. The City has a hotel offer of over 1,100 hotels with more than 36,000 rooms and a multifunctional infrastructure suitable for hosting the event according to the specific requests published in the rule book. Infrastructures, spaces and locations for pre and after show events. The Rimini Fiera ( Rimini Expo Centre) has shown that it can organize concerts with at least 10,000 spectators and is served by trains and shuttles. All this, combined with the great history that has always linked the city of Rimini to music and contemporary sensitivity for sounds that look to Europe, makes our city one of those potentially capable of hosting Eurovision 2022, like few others in Italy.