The duo won with their song Brividi in the final round of voting from the Sanremo juries and the public.
It was Mahmood’s second Sanremo victory, after he won the 2019 edition with his song Soldi and went on to finish second place in the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv that year.
This time round, Mahmood will be joined by the 18-year-old Blanco on the stage of Eurovision 2022, which will take place in Turin on May 14.
It will mark the first time in 30 years that Eurovision is held in Italy, after Rome band Måneskin won last year’s edition.
The pair is yet to confirm if their song will be kept entirely in Italian, saying: “We still have to think about it; what interests us for now is taking our music abroad.”
Second prize at Sanremo went to Elisa (who won Sanremo in 2001 with the massive hit Luce) for her song O forse se tu, while in third place was veteran Italian crooner Gianni Morandi for his song Apri tutte le porte, written by Jovanotti.
The final evening of the five-night extravaganza was presented by the festival’s host and artistic director Amadeus, and co-hosted by Roman actress Sabrina Ferilli.
Over the course of the week, millions of viewers in Italy tuned in to watch more than 100 performances from the competing participants and guest acts, as well as speeches addressing important issues such as racism.
