Sanremo gets off to bumper start

(ANSA) - Sanremo, February 7 - The 2018 Sanremo Song Festival, presented by singer-songwriter Claudio Baglioni, got off to a bumper start on Tuesday with 11.6 million people tuning to RAI to see it on the opening night, 52.1% of the audience share. That compares to 11.374 viewers, 50.4% of the share, for the first night of the popular festival last year, when it was presented by Carlo Conti and Maria De Filippi.
    The show was stolen on the first night by guest star Fiorello, one of Italy's most popular entertainers.
    He had people in stitches with a stand-up routine in which, among other things, he joked about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Italy this week.
    "He's coming to Sanremo because he heard there are 1,300 free journalists here," he joked.
    Fiorello also showed his formidable vocal abilities in a duet with Baglioni, singing his 1974 hit E Tu, and kept his cool when a protestor managed to get past security officers and on to the stage.
    "I knew I shouldn't have come here," he said.
    Fiorello added that the protestor apologised afterwards.
    Baglioni said Fiorello would probably make another appearance during the week-long festival, which in the past helped launch the careers of many of Italy's top musicians, such as Eros Ramazzotti and Laura Pausini. RAI said it is evaluating whether a song by Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro can remain in the festival competition due to doubts about whether it is 100% original new work.