THEthe debut of Sanremo 2026 bears the signature of a great return: Tiziano Ferro will take the stage at the Ariston as super guest of the first eveningcalled by Carlo Conti to kick off the event with an injection of pure emotion. If today we welcome him as a mature artist, fresh from the success of his last album I’m great and ready for a new stadium tour, the thought inevitably runs to 25 years ago. It was 2001 and a Latina boy was about to change the rules of Italian music with Relative red.
Tiziano Ferro, as he was at the time of his debut with Relative red
Going back in time means rediscovering the phenomenon Relative reda record that represented a true cultural earthquake. Titian was not yet the self-confident icon we admire today; he was a young man of 21 with a fierce determination. Before that debut, he had faced a physical metamorphosis deep, losing over forty kilos in a year and a half: a path of discipline that he himself described as the price paid to transform his dream into reality, starting from those 111 kilos which later became the title of one of his famous subsequent songs.
The cover of Tiziano Ferro’s album “Rosso Relative”.
The birth of Xdono
The song Xdono it is the real turning point. The song was written on a December day in 2000: while going to his father’s study, Tiziano felt the impulse to stop and reflect on a bench in the Latina municipal parkwhere he began to compose his first words. Sonically, the song is a mix of contemporary R&B, soul and hip hop.
Although many associate its origins with Latina, the video of Xdono was filmed by Matteo Pellegrini in July 2001 Milan. In the clip, a very young Ferro bursts into a television studio during a talk show to launch his request for forgiveness through the cameras. The success was overwhelming: the single remained at the top of the European charts for weeks and was recorded in five different languagesfrom French to Portuguese, establishing him as a global star before he even turned 22.
Tiziano Ferro’s career: from Sanremo nos to world success
The climb was not immediate. Despite his crystalline talent, Tiziano Ferro had to accept several rejections when he came rejected twice from the selections of Sanremo Youth at the end of the nineties. They were Mara Maionchi and Alberto Salerno to sense that there was a gold mine in that boy who wrote lyrics on the park benches in Latina. Together they shaped a sound that critics of the time called “too American” due to its R&B influences, but which audiences instantly loved. Xdonothe first single, became a European catchphrase capable of crossing national borders, transforming the shy debutant into an international pop star.
Tiziano Ferro at the Italian Music Award in 2002. (credit: photostore)
Tiziano Ferro guest at Sanremo 2026 with Carlo Conti
Today, see it next to Carlo Conti – which introduced him in his first television appearances – closes a magic circle. Tiziano Ferro returns to Sanremo 2026 not just to sing, but to celebrate 25 years of Relative red and a career that has been able to navigate private storms and global successes, always remaining faithful to that emotional truth that made him unique from the first listen.
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