words by Gabi Logan
At 9pm this Saturday, the 5th of May 2012, MTV will televise its annual TRL (Total Request Live) award ceremony from Florence’s Piazzale Michelangelo. The free event is expected to draw more than 20,000 attendees.
Valentina Correani and the Dogo Club will host the event, which, in addition to awards and music performances, will feature two break dancing crews, including De Klan, three-time winners of the Italian edition of Battle of the Year. Comedians I Soliti Idioti (The Usual Idiots), the stars of the Gymnasts television series, Tacabro, Riccardo Trombetta, Melissa Satta, Leonardo Fioravanti, Daniel Ricciardo, Celeste Gaia and Nicole Grimaudo will present the awards.
International megastars Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Guetta, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Tiziano Ferro, and Laura Pausini are among the 50 artists nominated for TRL awards. Artists scheduled to appear at the event include Marracash, Noemi, Sonohra, Two Fingerz, Arisa, Conor Maynard, Dolcenera, Ent.ics, Modà, and Young The Giant
Voting is open to the public through Friday the 4th of May for the Super Man, Wonder Woman, Best MTV Show, Italians Do It Better, Best Band, Best Video, Best New Generation, and Best Look awards, while the Best Fan award voting will remain open until the event on Saturday.
Florence also hosted the TRL awards ceremony last year, but in Piazza Santa Croce. Despite the square’s central, historic location, limited space and noise concerns of area residents influenced the event coordinators to relocate.
Mayor Matteo Renzi told news site Met that the event “will be an occasion to admire Florence’s beauty from above”. The performance stages have been placed along the edge of the terrace so that the city panorama forms the background of the proceedings.
MTV is organizing buses from Piazza Ferrucci up to the event for audience members. The ceremony will be broadcast live on MTV and streamed on MTV.it.
