Italy’s first ESC entry, the cheerful “Aprite le finestre” (Open the Windows) performed by Franca Raimondi is a song extolling the joys of spring, the “feast of love”. Raimondi takes control of the song from the outset and her melodious voice barely needs the orchestral backing to succeed. The main downside to the song is when the vocals break into a sequence of “la la la” a few times, as they jar with the otherwise smooth delivery of the lyrics.

The second Italian entry is another of the songs which may have made sense in the context of music in the 1950s, but to modern ears it sounds meandering and aimless. “Amami Se Vuoi” (Love Me If You Want) by Tonina Torrielli sings, as the title suggests, another love song, this time with her character expressing her fickle or otherwise inconsistent emotions in this area. The music serves mostly as a backdrop, a few blasts and heaves aside.