Volare Came Third in 1958 ESC, Then Achieved Global Fame

However, a technical problem meant ... "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" had received 13 votes (the highest being 4s from Belgium and Germany), placing Italy third of the 10 entries....

Italian: [voˈlaːre]; 'To fly'), ... represented Italy in the third edition of the Eurovision Song Contest held in Hilversum, where it came in third place out of ten songs....

One of 14 entries chosen to compete, "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" ultimately finished in second place behind "Waterloo", ABBA's winning song from the 1974 contest.

"Nel blu, dipinto di blu," popularly ... won the Sanremo Music Festival and represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest, placing third....

Few people remember that this song was actually an early Eurovision entrant, and although it only placed third in the contest, Modugno clearly had the last laugh in terms of record sales, as well as walking off with the Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year gongs at 1959’s inaugural Grammy ...

Italy finished 3rd at Eurovision 1958 with 13 points. ... Penso che un sogno così non ritorni mai più Mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu Poi d'improvviso venivo dal vento rapito E incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito · Volare, oh oh…

Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu, better known as Volare, was the Italian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1958 in Hilversum performed by Domenico Modugno, which he also co-wrote with Franco Migliacci. He was inspired to write the song after viewing several paintings by artist Marc Chagall.

Modugno would return to the Contest for the last time in 1966 with ‘Dio, come ti amo’ (‘God, How I Love You’). Sadly, on this occasion, he would fail to score any points, becoming one of the Contest’s “nul pointers”, alongside Téréza from Monaco. It is the only occasion on which Italy has not scored any points and placed last in the country’s Eurovision history. 1958 was a big year for ‘Nel blu dipinto di blu’. It was named Billboard’s song of the year for 1958.