Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 47 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956. It was one of the seven countries that competed at the first contest, which took inspiration from the Sanremo Music Festival.
Italy competed at the contest without interruption until 1980, discontinuing its participation on a number of occasions during the 1980s and 1990s.
After a 13-year absence starting in 1998, the country returned to the contest in 2011.
On 31 December 2010, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that Italy would be returning to the contest as part of the “Big Five”, thereby granting the country automatic qualification for the final.
Italy’s return to the contest has proved to be successful, finishing in the top ten in nine of the last eleven contests (2011–22), including second places for Raphael Gualazzi (2011) and Mahmood (2019), and third place for Il Volo (2015). Il Volo won the televote, receiving votes from all countries, but came sixth with the juries. This was the first time since the introduction of the mixed jury–televote system in 2009 that the televote winner did not end up winning the contest. Italy achieved its third victory at the contest in 2021, with the rock band Måneskin and the song “Zitti e buoni”.
Italy has won the contest three times, along with an additional 15 top-five finishes. Italy hosted the contest in Naples (1965), Rome (1991) and Turin (2022).
