A New Interest?
However, in 2008 two noted Italian musicians, Vince Tempera (he helped San Marino which took part in the ESC in 2008) and Eurovision winner Toto Cutugno expressed their sorrow at Italy's absence from the contest and called for the country to return to the contest.
Contestants from the 2008 contest, starting with the winner Dima Bilan appeared on the Italian show Carramba! Che fortuna, hosted by Raffaella Carrà on Rai Uno. Whether this is an initiative by Carrà, who presented three shows in TVE concerning the event, to try to bring Eurovision back to Italy is unknown, but Sietse Bakker, Manager Communications & PR of the Eurovision Song Contest, reiterated that "Italy is still very much welcome to take part in the competition."
Shortly after revealing the list of participants for the 2009 Contest the EBU announced that, for the 2010 Contest, they will now work harder to bring Italy back into the contest, now setting it as a priority.
Read more about this topic: Italy In The Eurovision Song Contest