Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 47 times since making its debut at the first contest in . It was one of the seven countries that competed at the first contest, which took inspiration from the Sanremo Music Festival. Italy competed at the contest without interruption until , discontinuing its participation on a number of occasions during the 1980s and 1990s. After a 13-year absence starting in , the country returned to the contest in . Italy has won the contest three times, along with an additional 15 top-five finishes. Italy hosted the contest in Naples (), Rome () and Turin (). In , Domenico Modugno finished third with the song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu". Renamed "Volare", the song became a huge international hit, topping the US Billboard Hot 100 and winning two Grammy Awards at its first edition. Emilio Pericoli also finished third in , before Italy won for the first time in with Gigliola Cinquetti and "Non ho l'età". Cinquetti returned to the contest in and finished second with the song "Sì", losing to ABBA. Italy then finished third in 1975 with Wess and Dori Ghezzi and the song "Era". The country's best result of the 1980s was Umberto Tozzi and Raf finishing third in . Italy's second victory in the contest came in with Toto Cutugno and the song "Insieme: 1992". Other good 1990s results were Mia Martini in and Jalisse in , who both finished fourth. After 1997, Italy withdrew from the competition. On 31 December 2010, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that Italy would be returning to the contest as part of the "Big Five", thereby granting the country automatic qualification for the final. Italy's return to the contest has proved to be successful, finishing in the top ten in nine of the last eleven contests (2011–22), including second places for Raphael Gualazzi () and Mahmood (), and third place for Il Volo (). Il Volo won the televote, receiving votes from all countries, but came sixth with the juries. This was the first time since the introduction of the mixed jury–televote system in 2009 that the televote winner did not end up winning the contest. Italy achieved its third victory at the contest in , with the rock band Måneskin and the song "Zitti e buoni". History Absences Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times.