San Marino has been represented at theEurovision Song Contest 15 times, debuting in the2008 contest, followed by participation from2011 onward. The Sammarinese participating broadcaster in the contest isSan Marino RTV (SMRTV). San Marino did not participate in 2009 or 2010, with SMRTV citing financial difficulties as the reason for its withdrawal. Having failed to qualify in their first four attempts, the nation qualified for the contest's final for the first time in2014.Valentina Monetta represented San Marino in2012,2013, and 2014, making her the first entrant to participate in three consecutive contests since the 1960s. She also represented San Marino in2017. In2019,Serhat managed to qualify to the final, marking the second appearance of the country in a Eurovision final and achieving their best result to date of 19th place. Following the2020 contest's cancellation due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Europe, their 2020 candidateSenhit was again selected to represent San Marino in thefollowing contest. She qualified to the final, making it the first time that San Marino made it to two consecutive finals. In2025,Gabry Ponte qualified San Marino for its fourth final.
SMRTV has largely chosen to select its entrant internally, though on six occasions it used national finals:1in360 for 2018,Digital Battle for 2020,Una voce per San Marino from 2022 to 2025, andSan Marino Song Contest since 2025. Unlike other participating countries, San Marino does not organise a televote due to its use of Italy's phone network, and because the small number of potential televoters would not meet the minimum voting threshold set by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Participation in theEurovision Song Contest is open to members of theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU),[1] of whichSan Marino RTV (SMRTV) is a member since 1995.[2] On 11 November 2007, an email from an SMRTV representative to theOGAE Italy stated that they were considering entering the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in2008, pending approval by their board members.[3] A decision would have to be made by 15 November, the deadline for interested broadcasters to submit an application for participation in the2008 contest.[3] At the time, half of the financing of SMRTV was byRadiotelevisione Italiana (RAI), the broadcaster ofItaly, which had last participated in1997; the two entities also shared board members.[4][5] Despite this, SMRTV received approval to take part and officially announced their participation on 21 November 2007.[5] SMRTV Head of Delegation Alessandro Capicchioni stated that San Marino's motivation for entering the contest was to promote tourism and to bring attention to the nation, as "[a] lot of the world knows neither where San Marino is or if it even exists".[6]
For their first Eurovision appearance, SMRTV sought to host an internal selection process, choosingMiodio with the Italian language song "Complice".[7][8] The nation's first entry did not fare well, placing last in thefirst semi-final, receiving just five points in total and not qualifying to the final.[9] In June 2008, the Sammarinese Minister of Culture announced that they had good hopes to return to the next year's edition.[10] After initially applying to take part in the2009 contest inMoscow, Russia, SMRTV ultimately opted to not return, citing financial difficulties.[11][12] San Marino did not return for the2010 contest either, again stating financial reasons as preventing participation. Had they obtained state or private funding for an entry, SMRTV had agreed to send the Italian duoPaola e Chiara to the contest, held inOslo, Norway that year.[13]
After a two-year absence from the contest, San Marino returned in2011 with Italian singerSenit performing "Stand By", which failed to take the nation to the final.[14] From 2012 to 2014, the nation sentValentina Monetta to the contest on three consecutive occasions, which made her the first singer to participate in three consecutive contests sinceUdo Jürgens, who competed in1964,1965 and1966 forAustria.[15] Monetta's entries in2012 ("The Social Network Song") and2013 ("Crisalide (Vola)") respectively failed to qualify San Marino for the final. However, in2014, Monetta managed to bring the nation to the final for the first time, where she placed 24th with the song "Maybe".[14]
San Marino's subsequent three entries: "Chain of Lights" performed byAnita Simoncini andMichele Perniola (2015), "I Didn't Know" by Turkish performerSerhat (2016) and "Spirit of the Night" byJimmie Wilson and Monetta (2017), all failed to qualify to the final. The 2017 entry marked Monetta's fourth appearance at the contest as well as the nation's second last place finish in the semi-final. This was only slightly improved upon in2018 withJessika andJenifer Brening's second to last place finish with "Who We Are". In2019, San Marino sent Serhat for a second time, with the song "Say Na Na Na", finishing in 19th place with 77 points, giving them their best result to this point. The nationplanned to take part in the2020 contest with Senhit and her song "Freaky!", however, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the contest was cancelled on 18 March 2020.[14][16] The EBU announced soon after that entries intended for 2020 would not be eligible for the following year, though each broadcaster would be able to send either their 2020 representative or a new one.[17] Senhit later revealed that she would return to represent San Marino for theEurovision Song Contest 2021.[18] Her2021 entry "Adrenalina" featuringFlo Rida managed to qualify the nation to the final the third time in its history, eventually placing 22nd of the 26 finalists with 50 points.[14]
San Marino's three subsequent entries failed to qualify for the final. The2022 entry "Stripper" by Italian singerAchille Lauro finished 14th in the semi-final,[14][19] the2023 entry "Like an Animal" by Italian bandPiqued Jacks finished last in its semi-final with no points, making it the first entry from San Marino to finish withnul points,[14][20] and the2024 entry "11:11" by Spanish alternative rock bandMegara finished 14th in the semi-final. This streak was broken in 2025, when Italian producerGabry Ponte with "Tutta l'Italia" qualified San Marino to the final for the fourth time, where it eventually finished 26th (last) with 27 points.
Prior to the 2018 contest, SMRTV had selected their Eurovision Song Contest entry internally for all of their appearances in the contest. Their first experience with a national final type process came in2018 where SMRTV opted to organise the online talent show1in360 to select the entry.[21] After a brief return to an internal selection for2019,[22] the 2020 contest saw the nation's entry selected throughDigital Battle. As part of that process, 2011 entrant Senhit was selected internally, while her song was selected through an online poll.[23] For 2021, SMRTV continued their cooperation with Senhit, returning to an internal selection for the year's contest.[18] The 2022 contest saw SMRTV opting to organise a singing competition entitledUna voce per San Marino to select their entry, returning a public process for a third time.[24] Following the success of the first edition, the Sammarinese Secretary of State for Tourism, Postal Services, Economic Cooperation and the World ExpoFederico Pedini Amati announced that the format had been confirmed for 2023.[25] In August 2023, Amati confirmed that a third edition was planned to select the nation's 2024 entry,[26] and the following October, the selection was confirmed until 2025.[27]
Voting at the Eurovision Song Contest typically consists of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent jury deliberation. From 2009 to 2015, the jury and public votes were combined and presented as one.[28] San Marino does not organise a televote, however, due to their use of Italy's phone network, and because the small number of potential televoters would not meet the minimum voting threshold set by the EBU.[29] As such, the Sammarinese vote was based solely on their jury during these contests.[28][30] For the 2016 contest, the EBU introduced a new voting system where the jury and televoting points would be presented separately. If no televote was available, they would instead simulate a composite score using average televoting results from an undisclosed pre-selected group of countries.[31] SMRTV objected to this format, particularly because the EBU would not divulge which countries they would use to create the result and because half of San Marino's points would be determined by others.[30][32] For the 2017 contest, SMRTV proposed to enable televoting by Sammarinese residents through the use of a statistically representative panel of viewers, similar to the process used at the time in Italy'sSanremo Music Festival. The panel would watch the shows of the contest live and vote during the normal televoting period; their vote would then be used as the country's televote. If any issues arose, the old format could be used as a backup.[33][34] However, the EBU denied this request in March 2017, and the rules had since remained unchanged in this regard.[35][36][37]
At the 2022 contest, San Marino's jury vote was found to have irregular voting patterns during the second semi-final, along with five other nations. Consequently, these countries were given substitute aggregated jury scores for both the second semi-final and the final, calculated from the corresponding jury scores of countries with historically similar voting patterns as determined by the pots for the semi-final allocation draw for that contest.[38][39] Their televoting scores were unaffected. The Flemish broadcasterVRT later reported that the juries involved had made agreements to vote for each other's entries to secure qualification to the final.[40]
For the 2023 contest, the voting system underwent several changes, including a return of full televoting to determine the qualifiers from the semi-finals.[41] In the event that a country cannot deliver a televoting result in a semi-final, a backup jury result would be used.[42] This change allowed for the Sammarinese vote in the semi-finals to be based solely on its jury, however, the procedure of using calculated scores would still be used in the event that the Sammarinese jury is disqualified.[43][44]
Alessandro Capicchioni has been the head of the San Marino Delegation since its debut at the event, until the 2025 edition.
Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[58]
Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals for the semi-finals and final of the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except their own. The juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result alongside televoting.[66] The modern incarnation of jury voting was introduced beginning with the2009 contest.[67]
For the show's broadcast on SMRTV, various commentators have provided comment on the contest in the local language. At the contest, after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting broadcaster to invite each respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote.[81] In 2014, San Marino RTV also provided an English commentary for their internet streaming, with John Kennedy O'Connor and Jamarie Milkovic.[82] O'Connor reprised this role for both the 2015 and 2016 contests.[83]
^Lombardini, Emanuele (10 October 2023)."Eurovision 2024: scattano le iscrizioni a 'Una voce per San Marino'" [Eurovision 2024: registrations for "Una voce per San Marino" start off].Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved24 March 2024.L'accordo è biennale, quindi è già confermato che ci sarà il concorso anche per la partecipazione all'Eurovision 2025. [It is a two-year agreement, so it is already confirmed that the contest will again be held for the participation in Eurovision 2025.]
^"Voting changes (2023) FAQ". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 22 November 2022.Archived from the original on 22 November 2022. Retrieved22 November 2022.
For the most recent participation see
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