Carla Bissi, known professionally as Alice or Alice Visconti, is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist who began her career in the early 1970s. After releasing three albums by the end of the decade, her breakthrough came in 1981 when she won the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Per Elisa". This was followed by European hit singles like "Una notte speciale", "Messaggio", "Chan-son Egocentrique", "Prospettiva Nevski" and "Nomadi" and albums like Gioielli rubati, Park Hotel, Elisir, and Il sole nella pioggia which charted in Continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan.
Alice live in concert, 20 March 2009
The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual TV music competition in the world on a national level and it is also the basis and inspiration for the annual Eurovision Song Contest.
Teatro Ariston in Sanremo during the final night of the festival in 2013
The Sanremo Casino hosted the Sanremo Music Festival between 1951 and 1976.
The Teatro Ariston has hosted the Sanremo Music Festival since 1977. The only exception was 1990's contest, hosted at Sanremo's Palafiori.
Nilla Pizzi was the winner of the first Sanremo Festival, in 1951.