Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979
| Eurovision Song Contest 1979 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |
 Italy | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal Selection | |||
| Selected entrant | Matia Bazar | |||
| Selected song | "Raggio di luna" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 15th, 27 points | |||
| Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Italy was represented by the group Matia Bazar, with the song '"Raggio di luna", at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 31 March in Jerusalem. The song was chosen internally by Italian broadcsaster RAI.
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Matia Bazar performed second in the running order, following Portugal and preceding Denmark. The pre-contest betting had rated "Raggio di luna" as the favourite for victory. However, on the night the group gave what is often mentioned as one of the worst vocal performances ever heard in a Eurovision final, with singer Antonella Ruggiero in particular being off-key vocally throughout large parts of the song. At the close of voting "Raggio di luna" had picked up only 27 points, placing Italy 15th of the 19 entries, a disastrous result for a song which had started out as the favourite. Only four of the other 18 national juries (Finland, Norway, Portugal and Spain) had awarded the song any points at all. The Italian jury awarded its 12 points to Spain.[1]