Mattarella receives Sanremo contestants and presenters

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 13 - President Sergio Mattarella on Friday received the contestants who are set to take part in the 76th Sanremo Song Festival later this month, along with presenter and artistic director Carlo Conti and his co-presenter, Grammy-award-winning pop star Laura Pausini, at the Quirinal Palace in Rome. It is the first time the participants of the much-loved song-contest-cum-festival have had a reception with the Italian head of state. Mattarella said that, by taking part in the festival, the artists were making "a contribution to the cultural life of our country, to society, to the life of our country. "Thank you, it will be a very important event for millions and millions of people," he added. "I thank you for coming, and I hope I haven't hindered the rehearsals by bringing you here to Rome. "But it was an interesting, enjoyable, and important occasion for me. "I won't say anything, I just wish you all the best of luck, completely impartially, I assure you". Mattarella, 84, said he has followed Sanremo since the first year of the festival when he was 10 years old, in 1951. He stressed that pop music was "part of Italy's cultural heritage". During the meeting the contestants, including singer-songwriter Francesco Renga and rapper J-Ax, sang Adriano Celentano's 1968 hit Azzurro, which was written by Paolo Conte, to the president. (ANSA). Read article...

By ANSA