Congratulations have poured in across Italy for glam rock band Maneskin after their victory at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The four-person rock band, who got their start busking on Rome’s main shopping street, were the bookmakers’ favourite going into the Eurovision finale and sealed the win with the highest popular vote in the enormously entertaining, and incredibly kitsch, annual song festival.
“We are out of our minds!” Florence’s Uffizi Galleries tweeted along with an image of a Caravaggio Medusa and the hashtag #Uffizirock.
Maneskin, Danish for “moonlight” and a tribute to bass player Victoria De Angelis’ Danish ancestry, won with a total of 529 points.
France was second while Switzerland, which led after national juries had voted, finished third.
“Rock’n’roll never dies, tonight we made history. We love u,” the band tweeted before heading back home from Rotterdam, Netherlands, where this year’s contest was held.
The band got their start performing on Via del Corso, the main commercial thoroughfare in central Rome.
Their scrappy performances in front of a Geox store were a far cry from the over-the-top, flame-throwing extravaganza on Saturday night that literally split lead singer Damiano David’s pants.
David told a news conference this week that starting out on the street was embarrassing, since the group had to contend with other musicians vying for the same prized piece of pavement while neighbours complained about the noise.
“They were always calling the police,” De Angelis said, laughing.
Maneskin’s win was only Italy’s third victory in the contest and the first since Toto Cutugno took the honour in 1990.
The victory means Italy will host next year’s competition, with cities bidding for the honour.
Launched in 1956 to foster unity after the Second World War, Eurovision evolved over the years from a bland ballad-fest to a campy, feel-good extravaganza.
It has grown from seven countries to include more than 40, including non-European nations such as Israel and far-away Australia.
Legend has it that Eurovision got its inspiration from Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival, which began in 1951 as a post-Second World War effort to boost Italian culture and the economy of the Ligurian coastal city that has housed it ever since.
Perhaps best known for having launched the likes of Andrea Bocelli and one of Italy’s most famous songs Nel blu, dipinto di blu – popularly known as Volare – the Sanremo festival usually picks Italy’s official selection for the Eurovision contest.
Maneskin won Sanremo this year with the same song, Zitti e Buoni (Quiet And Good) that they performed on Saturday night in Rotterdam.
