Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in November 2018 that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2019, later turning out to be Mahmood with "", would earn the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Background Prior to the 2019 contest, Italy had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-four times since its first entry during the inaugural contest in 1956. Since then, Italy has won the contest on two occasions: in 1964 with the song "" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti and in 1990 with the song "" performed by Toto Cutugno. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. Their return in 2011 with the song "Madness of Love", performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placed second—their highest result, to this point, since their victory in 1990. In 2018, Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro represented the nation with the song "", placing fifth with 308 points. The Italian national broadcaster, (RAI), broadcasts the event within Italy and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RAI confirmed Italy's participation in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 5 October 2018. Between 2011 and 2013, the broadcaster used the Sanremo Music Festival as an artist selection pool where a special committee would select one of the competing artist, independent of the results in the competition, as the Eurovision entrant. The selected entrant was then responsible for selecting the song they would compete with. For 2014, RAI forwent using the Sanremo Music Festival artist lineup and internally selected their entry. Since 2015, the winning artist of the Sanremo Music Festival is rewarded with the opportunity to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, although in 2016 the winner declined and the broadcaster appointed the runner-up as the Italian entrant. Before Eurovision Artist selection On 20 November 2018, Italian broadcaster RAI confirmed that the performer that would represent Italy at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the competing artists at the Sanremo Music Festival 2019. According to the rules of Sanremo 2019, the winner of the festival earns the right to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, but in case the artist is not available or refuses the offer, the organisers of the event reserve the right to choose another participant via