Sanremo 2026, Ditonellapiaga: “A song without reference”
“This Sanremo as a soloist comes after a period in which I chose to do some apprenticeship“. Four years after her first participation in Sanremo with the song “Chimica”, in a duet with Donatella Rettore, Ditonellapiaga returns to the Festival alone, with more experience and awareness. Guest of the Rockol Lounge, at Superluna, the Roman singer-songwriter talks about the path that now takes her to the Ariston with “Che bother!”: “When I started my project I released a record and went straight to Sanremo, it was all very quick, almost unusual. I started out a bit with the stars and at a certain point – I’m not saying I ended up in the doldrums – I understood that we also had to go through other phases”. In view of the start of the 76th edition of the Festival, the artist, born Margherita Carducci, born in 1997, adds: “Today I arrive in Sanremo with much more awareness compared to what I want to do and with more skills. I have less unconsciousness than the first time: then I was much more instinctive, almost bold. This time I experience it better, because I know what I’m doing, I know which things are really important and which are not.”
Of the piece, he says: “I didn’t want references: we went into the studio without thinking about what we wanted to inspire us. Initially we thought of another piece, then we thought we could take a risk with this one, which in some ways was nastier. We went through a phase in which we questioned ourselves about the path to take, and we decided to go in that of my more defined identity, or rather to push even more in that direction”. He says that the songs and the staging which – we will see tonight – have memorable parts, which could work on stage. “But they were born spontaneously, without thinking. We were interested in bringing a story to the stage.”
The song that Ditonellapiaga brings to Sanremo, written by herself together with Edoardo Castroni, Edoardo Ruzzi and Alessandro Casagni, was born after a discussion with her record companies which – says the singer-songwriter – proved to be “very useful”. On the Ariston stage, Margherita decided to present his piece with a choreography curated by Dalila Frassanito: “She has a language that moves a lot with mine,” the artist tells Rockol. She adds: “When I saw her works as a choreographer I immediately thought that they were perfect for my music, because they are very theatrical. The goal is not a choreography with dancers doing their best. It’s trying to accompany the performance and create a story. The dancers behind me on stage give voice to my thoughts.”
For the evening of covers and duets, Margherita chose to bring a couple with guest TonyPitony a reinterpretation of “The Lady is a tramp“, a famous 1937 musical standard composed by Rodgers and Hart for the musical “Babes in Arms”, known above all for the performances of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
“I’m a big fan of TonyPitony, especially his vocals and musicality“, Ditonellapiaga tells Rockol: “Ever since they picked me up in Sanremo I had the thought of bringing TonyPitony on stage. But regardless of the guest, we had the idea of making a piece that was very different from my competing piece, more melodic, less contemporary, and also more vocally complex.”
