Italy's biggest pop music event of the year has got off to a less than flying start, despite the talents of jazz-pop star Norah Jones and a comedy act with a Romano Prodi look-alike.
Television viewing figures released on Wednesday showed that the first night of the five-day Sanremo song festival scored poorly when compared to recent years.
The average audience for the three-hour sequence of music, gags and dancing on state television's flagship RAI-1 channel was 9.7 million, more or less the same as last year's first night.
But the crucial first two hours, most of which are in the classic primetime slot, were watched by 12.4 million Italians, compared to over 13 million in 2006, 16 million in 2005 and 12.9 million in 2004.
Italian dailies, most of which devoted a double page to the Sanremo glitz and japes, appeared satisfied with the first night and published countless photos of the smiling copresenters Pippo Baudo and Michelle Hunziker.
Norah Jones, who has sold 30 million discs over the last five years, won praise for her performance of Thinking About You, one of her best known hits.
A comedy interlude by popular stand-up Antonio Cornacchione also appealed to critics in newspapers, who highlighted his political satire and carried photos of him assaulting a fellow comedian impersonating Premier Romano Prodi.
