During the first week of February, Italy comes together to choose the artist who will win the festival and represent the country in Eurovision. This social event has been running since 1951, when its first edition was presented. For four consecutive days, the candidates and the best performances are discussed incessantly, and there is debate over who should emerge as the winner. It is a festival that unites each region of the country for a week, something quite difficult to achieve given that the identity of Italy is fragile as it is a state whose unification is relatively recent (1860). The Italian provinces feel rooted in their culture and in their own language, which is diverse in each region. Furthermore, the rivalry between the north and south of the country is still present. But what makes the festival have such a unifying effect on the entire region?
-Split and theory of social identity. The San Remo festival makes it easier for people to have an united identity and for both people from the south and the north to feel Italian. This identification with something external makes Italians move away from categorization, that is, from that social mechanism inherent to human beings that causes external groups to be seen as “bad” and the own group to be seen as “good.” There is a split where the bad is outside and the good is inside. The festival offers that platform where an integration of the Italian identity is generated. The border between regions is blurred and the good part of the Italian identity is assumed to be common to all Italians, regardless of the region.
Mahmooh. Festival winner in 2019 and 2022
– Integration. That is to say, the San Remo festival is a psychological mechanism at the group level that helps to integrate and assume the good and bad as within the same group. Italian culture is valued. Language is valued. What is common is valued and what is different is forgotten. This process that occurs at the national level with this festival is very well appreciated in therapy. It is common for a person at the beginning of therapy to feel that things are good or bad, and to have difficulty accepting what they do not like about their own identity or even to recognize the “good” part of themselves. The therapy process consists of being able to integrate both parts (the good and the bad) in each one, and also in others. This integration is achieved after an emotional process of thinking and understanding.
Angelina Mango. Winner in 2024
– Grieving. After letting go of the categorization mechanism and integrating the complex parts of one’s own identity, a grieving process can be carried out. On an individual level, this process serves to recognize what one lacks, and accept it. In therapy, this is the final step when the person is capable of accepting oneself, but also of accepting what has been experienced with other people, such as parents, or an ex-partner. Mourning what is missing in oneself or in others helps to accept oneself and live with less demand and frustration. In San Remo, this process of mourning and common identity, facilitates the staging of themes common to the nation. In this climate of integration it might seem that Italian society is more willing to listen to and validate the different parts of its idiosyncrasy. In this year 2024, for example, several themes were proposed such as identity as a son of immigrants sung by Ghali with Casa Mía, the vindication of Neapolitan identity by Geolier with its theme in the regional language, or simply the celebration and joy with the cumbia sung by Angelina Mango, this year’s winner. Even the well-known Mahmood talks about the periphery and marginalization in Italian cities with his song Tuta Gold. All these parts of the Italian identity unified and shared by millions of people in the same week
The five finalists of the contest in 2024
Diana Faón Psicoterapia 