For a flat and lackluster Sanremo, there was an DopoFestival that finally respected its mission. With the four events aired from Tuesday to Friday, Nicola Savino gave the brand back its identity, its reason for existing. It was not a given, because over the years the appendix to the event had abandoned its original structure and abandoned its purpose, often transforming itself into an inconsistent hybrid.

The DopoFestival is that extra meal given to those who aren’t full, to those who don’t want to leave the table. And Savino, thanks also to the author Giovanni Benincasa, was able to give substance to this coda, putting the talk, the discussion and the comparison with the journalists, who have finally become active and speaking again, at the centre.

The program has banished shouting, chaos, and chaos passed off as a party. He lowered the decibels, entrusted specific roles to the protagonists and above all rebuilt the ideal climate. To do this, the position in front of the Ariston was abandoned to knock again at the Casino, with a very clear underlying message: we are indeed a prosthesis, but we claim our independence.

In 2023 Fiorello organized his ‘Sanremo special’ within Viva Rai 2. A ‘remote’ program, created from via Asiago, with simple connections with the Riviera which did not return the right suggestions. The Sicilian showman himself clarified that he had not set up an DopoFestival, but rather a commentary on the event based on the spirit of his morning show. The following year the group went there and the approach changed: however, it was the DopoFestival that adapted to “Viva Rai 2”, rather than the other way around.

Twelve months ago, however, the task was entrusted to Alessandro Cattelan. But if Fiorello had revealed his distance from the DopoFestival, preserving the original title of his creation, the former MTV VJ made the mistake of not wanting to immerse himself in the extraordinary setting, re-presenting exactly the same patterns as “Stasera c’è Cattelan”, from the gags to the games played by the singers. By also hiring Selvaggia Lucarelli, an attempt was made to spark the controversy, taking advantage of Fedez’s concomitant participation in the race. Who coincidentally stayed away.

It also happened to literally puncture Tony Effe’s protest against the organization (due to the necklace not being put on stage) in favor of a self-centered narrative, entirely focused on one’s own interests and not those of the spectators.

Savino, for his part, has entered into harmony with the public, taking an intelligent step back. Obviously, there were limits, between superfluous presences and unexpressed potential. But overall the result was that of a pleasant nocturnal background, with all the elements expertly kept at the center of the scene.

Approaching the heights of 2008, when Elio and Storie Tese gave an unrepeatable edition, remains impossible. But in the meantime we are back on the right track.