Sanremo 2020: First LIS Interpretation of Italian Song Festival

The 70th Sanremo Music Festival made history by providing live Italian Sign Language (LIS) interpretation for all five evenings for the first time. Fifteen performers, including three deaf individuals, translated the competing songs on RaiPlay from Studio 4 in via Teulada, creating a show within a show. This allowed deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers across Italy to experience the festival, distinguishing musical genres like pop, rap, trap, rock, and Latin. Laura Santarelli, director of the Accademia Europea Scuola Interpreti LIS e Performer LIS in Rome, spearheaded the project. Her school specializes in artistic LIS interpretation, having previously worked on the musical 'Notre Dame de Paris' by Riccardo Cocciante and Pasquale Panella. Santarelli, who comes from four generations of deaf family members and learned Italian at age five, began her LIS performance journey in 1994 with choreographer Marco Ierva. She emphasized that LIS conveys musical intensity through body movement and facial expression, unlike subtitles. The project was supported by Rai Pubblica Utilità.