Sing it up Sanremo: Italy's grand music festival

In Italy it's referred to simply as The Festival and The Festival is Sanremo. Sanremo is a seaside town on Italy's Riviera. Set along Liguria region's north-west coast and just near the border with France and Monaco, every year Sanremo hosts a music festival with style and just a little bit of tack.

The worldwide hit Volare, or Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu, was first sung here by Domenico Modugno in 1958. According to festival rules, songs sung at Sanremo must be original numbers specially written for the event.

Indeed, the concept behind Sanremo's festival, first launched in 1951, was used to create a bigger, European version five years later - the Eurovision contest.
Each year many of Italy's big music names put in a performance and past greats have included Adriano Celentano, Gianni Morandi and Eros Ramazzotti.

The festival is held in the Ariston theatre of Sanremo towards the end of February, early March but the town itself is a racy place to visit any time of year. The city's casino is known for generating the poker variant, Telesina and the Milan to Sanremo cycle race, part of the International ProTour, finishes here amidst fanfare and jubilation.

Just before it hosts the festival, Sanremo is awash with the colour of its annual flower parade and market, flowers being a significant part of Liguria's economy. Each town of the area presents a fantastic floral float with original flower designs while traders from around the world gather to compare produce.

A holiday in Sanremo is a visit to what's become known as the City of Flowers, an area where locals claim it is eternally spring and whose impact may just make you want to sing, or else you can leave that to the festival experts.