Italian summer: let’s recap!

Last updated on December 21, 2022

The Eurovision Song Contest

It all started back on the 22nd of May when on the stage of the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam the Italian rock band Maneskin came in first at the 2021 (it was supposed to be the 2020…you know the pandemic factor…) Eurovision Song Contest. There were 39 artists who performed in two semi-finals from which the 20 qualified for the final were named. 6 countries (Italy, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) had preferential access to the final. The reason behind this privilege? These nations had the merit of founding Eurovision back in 1956.

Their song “Zitti e Buoni” has been a hit basically all around the world and reached platinum status in Italy (four times!), Finland, Greece and Poland. In addition to the great success of this track other songs from the Roman rock band like “Beggin” have been first on Spotify for the whole month of July.

The UEFA Euro 2020

Again, it was supposed to be happening a year ago but this freaking virus had the whole world on hold for 12 months…Anyway it was a hot summer night, the 11th of July, when the match between England and Italy started. Just a couple of minutes into the game and…bam! The Brits got their thing right! It was the beginning of a nightmare for the Italian team which only had 88 minutes to score at least one goal! And so it happened. Leonardo Bonucci finds his way into the adversary net on the 67th minute of the second half. The extra time didn’t change anything and so it was all about the penalty kicks. 4 to 3! Italy is the champion of Europe!

The 2020 Tokio Olympics

The weirdest games of all times. Only athletes and journalists are allowed to see the competitions. The Japanese insisted to host the games not to throw away the billions already spent for an edition which will remain in history, at least for Italy, given that this year the Italian Olympic medal table set a new record. 40 medals from bronze to gold. It didn’t happen since the Rome games back in 1960 when the Italians could count on 36 medals. 384 athletes (197 men and 187 women) who had the power to bring a whole country together to celebrate the many triumphs under the Japanese sky. Starting with the silver medal won by Luigi Samele (sword) to the historical win of the Italian quadruplet Jacobs, Patta, Desalu and Tortu in the 4×100 meters relay.

And so this is what happened during summer 2021! Italy got a sort of revenge against the awful months it has gone through during the pandemic. Something needed to celebrate a country that has suffered the worst consequences of the evil virus which has gripped so many for just too long.