Ariston. A great Theatre for a monumental Festival

The history of the stage where the Italian Song Festival lives

The Ariston Theatre and the Festival della Canzone Italiana are the international media phenomenon that has made the name of Sanremo travel around the world. In the '50s Commendatore Aristide Vacchino bought a piece of land and, after almost 10 years of work, the Ariston Theatre came to life: an immense structure equipped with an amazing technology for that time.

It became the most famous cinema-theatre in Italy thanks to the Festival della Canzone Italiana, one of the main national media events, which has taken place there every year in February since 1977. 

Born in 1951, at the Casino, the Festival was broadcast by radio until '55, when it became a great television event, broadcast in Eurovision by Raiuno. A springboard for many, it has hosted the most famous names of Italian song from Modugno to Lucio Dalla, from Celentano to Vasco Rossi, and again Battisti, Mina, Ornella Vanoni to Fiorella Mannoia, Laura Pausini and even Andrea Bocelli.

The crucial year is 1958, with the victory of Nel blu dipinto di blu di Modugno, an immediate international success. Among the great foreign participations, we remember those memorable Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, U2, Elton John, David Bowie.