Following a victory on their Junior Eurovision debut last year, Italy will see if they can duplicate Vincenzo Cantiello's success with their singer for 2015. Ten acts, all of whom have appeared on earlier series of RaiTv's 'Ti lascio una canzone', will compete for the ticket to Sofia in three stages of competition.
First, a series of duels will winnow the ten acts down to five, with one wildcard entry also moving on from the eliminated acts. Those six songs will be selected through the vote of a professional jury, the show's orchestra, and a public televote.
Following that first elimination, the six remaining acts will perform in a group medley. After another round of voting, the jury and the viewing public will choose the night's top two.
Finally, the last two finalists will sing for the ticket to Sofia, with the decision lying solely in the hands of the Italian voting public. In the unlikely case of a statistical tie, the professional jury will step in and cast the deciding vote.
Tonight's candidates are:
Beatrice Coltella & Antonio Licari
Chiara & Marina Scarpari
Clara Palmeri
Claudia Ciccateri
Emanuele Bertelli
Gabriele Acqavia
Giovanni Sutera Sardo
Rebecca Toschi
Sophia de Rosa & Andrea Ascanio
Valentina Baldelli
Participants on previous series of 'Ti lascio una canzone' have included Malta's 2014 JESC singer Federica Falzon, Michele Perniola (who sang for San Marino at both JESC and Eurovision), all three members of Il Volo, and, of course, the last two JESC champions, Malta's Gaia Cauchi and Italy's Vincenzo Caniello. Whoever wins tonight's competition, we'd like to wish all of the contestants 'in bocca al lupo'!
Be sure to tune in to Rai 1 at 21:20 CET to watch Italy's first Junior Eurovision National Final! From within Italy, you can watch the show by clicking here.
