Måns Zelmerlöw and Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015, but had it been televoting only, Italy would have won. To many Eurovision fans it’s still a mystery how the juries didn’t appreciate Il Volo’s ‘Grande Amore’.

For the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, Italy used the Sanremo Festival to pick their representative. The final of the Campioni competition of the Sanremo festival took place on the 14th of February 2015. The opera pop trio Il Volo won the competition.

According to the rules the Sanremo winner could accept or decline the invitation to go to Eurovision. Il Volo were more than happy to represent their country, and as such accepted.

Il Volo represented Italy in Vienna with their song Grande Amore (Great Love). As a member of the Big 5 Italy were automatically qualified for the final. The boys from Il Volo wore black suits when took the stage as last act. During their performance the screens showed images of Roman statutes and columns.

The Italian trio won the public vote but came in sixth place according to the juror. Overall, the trio had 292 points by the end of the night. The song ended in third place below Sweden and Russia.

Grande Amore – opinions from fans

In order to find out what Eurovision fans today think of this Italian entry from 2015, we asked our Eurovision Fan Panel. It includes team members as well as fans from all over the world.

🇨🇴 🇫🇮 Álvaro S. – This is one of the cases in which the audience had it better than the jurors. I don’t understand why they did not appreciate the quality of this song. For me this would have made a more deserving winner than the actual winner or the runner-up from 2015.

🇩🇰 Tina M. – There is not a word that describes Il Volo’s song Grande amore in a more precise way than the word “masterpiece”. The song has a depth and an intensity that is completely unique and is masterfully performed by the three young, amazing and extremely talented boys from Italy; Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca. That the song did not win Eurovision in 2015 is one of the biggest scandals in recent times. A tone-deaf jury with a hidden agenda and with such a great power is unacceptable to me. This song stands for me as one of the finest and most beautiful songs in the history of Eurovision – yes a timeless song without equal – a masterpiece. 10/10.

🇹🇷 Günec G. – All I can say is that Grande Amore is a masterpiece. It was my winner in 2015. The boys are extremely talented. I watched the performance standing still with my mouth open. Actually I loved the song from the first time I saw its video. To see it didn’t win was one of the most disappointing moments of my life.

🇦🇺 Craig M. – Il Volo would have won in 2015, if I had my way. They are a class act, had a great song and put on a great performance. Grande Amore is not usually the kind of music I like, but there is something about this song that draws me in. An 8 out of 10 for me!

🇬🇧 Steve P. – I first heard this song when it was performed on the first evening of the Sanremo Festival 2015. It made such an impression that I ran upstairs, woke up the wife and waxed lyrical to her about how wonderful it was! She has forgiven me – just! It’s the perfect song; a great melody, sincere lyrics, an arrangement that adds depth and performed to the highest standard! One of the great Eurovision mysteries remains why so-called music industry professionals preferred the Swedish cartoon gimmick. This is the best song of all time!

🇸🇪 Sara T. – This was my favourite song before the contest in 2015, but the live performance didn’t live up to the song’s potential, unfortunately. I think the show was too bland and didn’t match the dramatic elements of the song. Nonetheless, I was convinced Italy would win, so I was very surprised when my country won! I remember watching the final with friends, and none of us were prepared, so we ended up celebrating with tiny Swedish flags that were part of a cake decoration 😄 I still love this song, and still prefer it over Heroes.

🇬🇧 Michael O. – Italy 2015 is certainly yet another great song from Italy, so not sure what the juries didn’t like. A classy entry which deserved to win, although I preferred Belgium and Russia that year.

🇩🇰 Charlotte J. – This song is perfect – and yet, it wasn’t my favourite to win in 2015. It was one of the strongest years recently, and I really wish Italy had sent this in 2016 instead. It would have easily won. Grande Amore is a better song than Heroes, but Måns offered something new and spectacular in his performance. But as I said, Grande Amore is perfect, and I really enjoy it.

🇩🇪 Andrew G. – I was lucky enough to be front of stage in Vienna in 2015. Everyone knew Grand Amore was going into the battle for the win. And II Volo put up a good fight. Vocals are on point by the three gentlemen giving a confident relaxed performance. Still gives me goosebumps. The only small let down for me was the LED background. Underwhelming to the dramatic of this beautiful song.

Enjoy Il Volo’s performance from the San Remo in the embedded video. This version is different from the Eurovision edition and worth checking out. Below the video, you can read more about them.

Il Volo – a mini biography

Baritone Gianluca Ginoble and tenors, Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto are the members of pop opera trio Il Volo. The group members meet for the first time in 2009 when they competed for an Italian talent show as solo artists. During the contest they were asked to perform together. Their performance as a trio came to the attention of an American music producer that offered them a record deal.

In 2010, they released a cover album that got some notoriety in the United States. They performed in the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Good Morning America. The Spanish version of this album gave them two nominations to the Latin Grammy Awards.

Finally in 2015 the group represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Grande Amore. Though it was expected to do well with the juries, it was the public televote that placed this song first. The juries had them in 6th place, and as such Italy finished third.

During their career Il Volo have recorded several songs in their mother tongue, Italian but also in Spanish and English. The band has released six albums to date. In 2020 the trio embarked in a tour to celebrate their first 10 years as a music group.