Best of the Bunch: San Marino

I would have liked to have said San Marino is one of the smallest, but most successful nations in Eurovision, but this really couldn’t be further from the truth. Despite the fact that the nation has only qualified to the final once in a total of 8 attempts (including the most recent in Kyiv), there are some truly iconic songs amongst their entries. Because San Marino debuted in 2007, today, we’ll start the journey there and continue to 2015 (to make sure there’s continuity with former Best of the Bunch posts!). Once we’ve recapped the entries, vote below for your best of the bunch!

In 2008, Eurovision was graced with the presence of San Marino for the first time, and the first act that the nation chose to send was the band Miodio with the song Complice. Coincidentally, and somewhat ironically, San Marino was the 50^th nation to participate in Eurovision, and was 5^th in the semi-final running order, but yet in the results, only received a total of 5 points! This meant that the nation came last on debut – rough start!

The following year, San Marino pulled out of the contest, which was cited to be related to financial issues. Once again, in 2010, they did not return to the contest due to the same reasons.

In 2011, San Marino was back for round two. The singer Senit was chosen to represent the nation, and she performed the song Stand By in English. Once again, San Marino had to stand by and watch the final, but not be a participating nation, as they finished in the semi-final at 16^th place.

2012 was an iconic year for San Marino, as it was the first year we were blessed with the presence of who is now a Eurovision icon. Valentina Monetta made her Eurovision debut in 2012, and the original song to be sung was called Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh, but due to the fact it breached Eurovision rules, the song was changed to The Social Network Song (Oh Oh-Uh-Oh Oh). The song received San Marino’s best result at 14^th place, but of course this was not good enough to reach the final.

The following year, Valentina was once again revealed as the internally selected artist to represent San Marino, this time, with a more serious contender. The song was called Crisalide (Vola), and the song was a massive fan favourite, so it left fans shocked when the song failed to make the final, however she was inching closer, finishing 11^th place with 47 points.

In 2014, it was third time lucky for Valentina Monetta who once again performed on the Eurovision stage. This time around, her song was called Maybe (Forse), and finally, and to the relief of many fans, San Marino finally got to sing their song again on Saturday night in the Grand Final. San Marino finished in 24^th place with 14 points, but it was a historic time for San Marino!

The following year, and the year we end our journey today featured an act other than Valentina Monetta, somewhat to the surprise of fans who thought she would represent the nation for the rest of time! Two artists were chosen to create a duo for the 2015 contest, and both were Junior Eurovision participants in the past. These two acts were Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini, and they were given the song Chain of Lights to sing at Eurovision. This didn’t go down too well, with San Marino once again staying in the semi-final, this time at 16^th place with 11 points.

Now it’s your time to vote for your favourite down below!