Reality talent show queen Maria De
Filippi will co-host the 67th Sanremo Song Festival this year
from February 7-11 alongside festival host and artistic director
Carlo Conti.
The pair announced the partnership on Wednesday at a press
conference, where Conti revealed he first proposed the idea to
De Filippi last summer.
"For my third year at the helm of the festival there needed
to be a different idea - there needed to be the best. And
thinking of the best, I thought of Maria," he said.
"In June or July I called her, then in August we tried to
nail things down. I'm very honoured that she said yes to this
idea, to this co-hosting with me".
Conti said De Filippi would perform as co-host without pay.
"With what it's cost us we don't have a lira left to pay the
others," Conti joked, adding that there wouldn't be any dancers
to accompany them because "the two of us are enough".
De Filippi said she agreed to co-host because of her respect
for Conti.
"My participation is a true and real one, with my whole self,
with my respect and the affinity I have for him," De Filippi
said.
She emphasized that Conti would remain artistic director.
"I haven't taken part in any decision, I haven't heard the
songs, I haven't participated in the content of the festival
because I think that Sanremo belongs to RAI and to Carlo," she
said, referencing the state broadcaster that transmits the show,
whom she thanked.
She also thanked her own network, Mediaset and its director
Pier Silvio Berlusconi, "for having confirmed the freedom that
I've experienced for years in choosing what to do and how to do
it".
Among the acts Conti announced at the press conference for
this year's song fest, one of the major Italian TV events of the
year, were Tiziano Ferro, Giorgia, Mika, Ricky Martin and
Rag'n'Bone Man with their hit Human.
Conti said he'd also like to have appearances by comedian
Maurizio Crozza, actor/director Roberto Benigni, comedian
Giorgio Panariello and actor/director Leonardo Pieraccioni.
"Some of the suggestions are further along than others. On
Crozza I say, hopefully, with sixty exclamation points".
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