Even Bigger Breaking News than What I Told You Yesterday!!!

More details are to come, I'm sure, but it looks like the wishes of Eurovision Fans for over 13 years have finally come to fruition...

Welcome back, Italy!!!!!!

The EBU has announced within the last hour that Italian broascaster RAI has received a bid to participate in Düsseldorf.  While they reserve the right to withdraw before Christmas with no penalty, this is a much bigger step towards ESC participation than they have taken in many, many years.  Furthermore, as RAI is one of the largest financial contributors to the EBU, they have clinched a spot in the Finals as a member of the newly-minted "Big Five", along with France, Spain, the UK, and hosts Germany.  This means that the 2011 Final will have 25 participants, instead of 24 (the host gets an automatic bid to the Final, but because that's Germany this year, they were down one entrant).  Remember, the last time we saw Italy was in 1997, with Jalisse's "Fiumi Di Parole", and they have two victories under their belt: 1964'a "Non Ho L'eta" and 1990's "Insieme: 1992".

More information to come, as the EBU is having a huge meeting over the next few days to hammer out details (including the possible admission of channels from Hungary, Liechtenstein, and Qatar...more debuts, possibly?), but I'm so happy to share this bit of news with you all!

Baci e benvenuti, Italia!