Sanremo Music Festival 1966

The festival's organisers, Società ATA, received 216 song submissions for the competition. In December 1965, an advisory commission lead by composer Carlo Savina and composed of journalists Velia Veniero, Angelo Cavallo, Sandro Delli Ponti, Filippo D'Errico, and Rodolfo D'Intino as well as composer Pino Calvi, narrowed down the list of submissions to thirty-five. ATA then chose twenty-six entries from the list to compete in the event, increased from the original aim of twenty-four. In a change from the previous two editions, competing songs were allowed to be performed by two Italian artists or two foreign artists, instead of strictly once by Italian artists and once by foreign artists. Among the competing artists were Luciana Turina and , who were given the right to participate after winning the 1965 edition of the Castrocaro Music Festival for newcomer artists. After the song "" written by Mogol and Bobby Solo was accepted into the competition, the festival's broadcaster, (RAI), made a request to ATA to prevent Solo from performing the song. Due to his repeated acts of indiscipline, they had announced a six-month suspension period on his television appearances. ATA accepted the request, forcing his record label Dischi Ricordi to announce his replacement with the vocal group I Musicals, who would perform his song at the festival. However, after Solo apologized to RAI through a written letter, they went back on their decision and allowed the label to reinstate his participation. ==Contest overview ==

The Sanremo Music Festival 1966 consisted of three live shows, two-semi-finals held on 27 and 28 January 1966 and a final held on 29 January. The first two nights consisted of thirteen songs performed twice, while the final consisted of fourteen songs performed twice. The television production was directed by . The running orders for all three shows were determined by random draw. The method of selecting finalists through a general ranking of all competing entries, used in the 1964 and 1965 editions, was reverted to the system used in 1963 and prior editions, with a set amount of songs qualifying in each semi-final and announced at the end of the evening. A new addition this year was an extra qualifier from each semi-final chosen from the entries not selected for the final by the regional jury, decided by a group of fifteen journalists in the venue chosen by random draw. Semi-final 2 The second semi-final took place on 28 January 1966 at 21:15 CET. However, the full results were released by press the next day on 30 January. == Broadcasts ==

Local broadcasts The semi-finals were broadcast on Secondo Programma (radio) and on Secondo Programma (television) at 21:15 CET, while the final was broadcast on Programma Nazionale (television) and on Secondo Programma (radio) at 21:00 CET. The final was estimated to have been broadcast to 21.3 million viewers in Italy. International broadcasts The final was broadcast via the Eurovision and Intervision networks in other countries. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. } ==Incidents and controversies ==

Protests over treatment of bands Throughout the week of the festival, Italian press disparagingly referred to several of the competing artists as "capelloni" (long-haired). To protest, during their performance of "", the band I Ribelli wore long-haired wigs on stage and took them off halfway through. She had been malnourished and passed out from heat, as the Sanremo Casino lacked air conditioning. Later that evening, Peppino Gagliardi also fainted while waiting for the results backstage. In the final, one of the members of Les Surfs fainted, causing a delay in their arrival on stage for their performance of "". Suicide attempt during rehearsals On 26 January 1966, a day of rehearsals before the first semi-final, a 30-year-old man attempted suicide outside the entrance to the Sanremo Casino. He had shown up to meet the artists competing in the festival and after he was denied entry into the casino, he overdosed on sedatives. He collapsed to the floor shortly after and was taken to hospital where he was revived. ==Notes==