San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

SMRTV internally selected Valentina Monetta (left) and Jimmie Wilson (right) to represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

On 7 March 2017, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) director general Carlo Romeo announced that San Marino would be represented by two singers: one from inside the European Union and one from outside of it.[7] Five days later, SMRTV held a press conference where they announced that they had internally selected the song "Spirit of the Night" to be performed by Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson.[6][8] Monetta had previously represented San Marino in 2012, 2013 and 2014, while Wilson, originally of the United States, had first come to Europe to star in Michael Jackson's musical Sisterella.[9] "Spirit of the Night" was written and composed by Ralph Siegel, who had written all of the entries of San Marino from 2012 through to 2015.[9][10] The lyrics are by Steven Barnacle and Jutta Staudenmayer.[11]

In December 2016, prior to the announcement of the selected entrants, Italian singer Tony Maiello claimed through a Facebook post that he had been approached to represent the nation if he paid 500,000 euros for promotion; costs he described as illegal.[12] The claim prompted an official response from SMRTV, who explained that neither they nor someone on their behalf had contacted Maiello regarding any potential participation.[13] In an article about the incident, Eurofestival News wrote that cost sharing between the broadcaster, artist and record label is common practice as the selected artist benefits from the publicity afforded to them by participating.[14] Italian singer Arisa also later revealed that she had been approached to represent the nation; however, her costs were quoted at 300,000 euros, which her record label was unwilling to pay.[15]

To promote the entry, a music video for "Spirit of the Night" was filmed at the nightclub P1 in Munich. The video, along with an accompanying "making of" clip, was filmed by Siegel's daughter Alana and presented to the public during a press event on 24 March 2017 at the Grand Hotel San Marino.[16][17] In the following weeks, Monetta and Wilson made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Spirit of the Night" as the Sammarinese Eurovision entry. Between 3 and 6 April, they took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where they performed the song during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[18][19] On 8 April 2017, the two performed during the ninth annual edition of Eurovision in Concert which was held at the club Melkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[20] A week later, they performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.[21]

Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson on stage in Kyiv during a rehearsal.

Monetta and Wilson took part in respective dress rehearsals on 3 and 6 May followed by the jury show on 10 May 2017, where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[30][31]

The Sammarinese performance featured Monetta wearing a black and white outfit and Wilson dressed in all black. They were joined by three backing vocalists on stage, while colourful disco-themed neon LED screens surrounded them.[31][32] Sammarinese Head of Delegation Alessandro Capicchioni described the style of the performance to be a simple choreography reminiscent of a live concert.[16]

At the end of the show, San Marino was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.[33] It was later revealed that San Marino placed 18th in the semi-final, receiving no points from the juries and one point from the German televote.[34]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to San Marino and awarded by San Marino in the second semi-final and the final of the contest, respectively, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows.

In the second semi-final, San Marino received one point in the televote from Germany; they received no points from the jury.[34]

The following members comprised the Sammarinese jury:[34][35]

• Fabrizio Raggi – artist
• Roberto Fabbri – guitarist (jury member in semi-final 2)
• Monica Sarti – soprano singer
• Doriano Pazzini – singer, guitarist
• Susanna Sacchi – singer
• Elia Conti – trumpet player (jury member in the final)

Detailed voting results from San Marino (Semi-final 2)[34]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		F. Raggi	R. Fabbri	M. Sarti	D. Pazzini	S. Sacchi	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Serbia	5	7	16	12	6	9	2	13
02	Austria	2	13	3	8	4	4	7	10	1
03	Macedonia	6	12	15	17	5	12		7	4
04	Malta	12	8	11	3	14	10	1	16
05	Romania	16	17	9	10	13	15		3	8
06	Netherlands	1	10	1	1	3	1	12	8	3
07	Hungary	10	6	7	7	15	8	3	2	10
08	Denmark	11	2	5	2	12	6	5	15
09	Ireland	17	11	6	15	10	13		9	2
10	San Marino
11	Croatia	9	4	12	6	8	7	4	5	6
12	Norway	4	1	2	11	1	2	10	12
13	Switzerland	15	14	8	14	9	14		6	5
14	Belarus	14	9	10	9	11	11		14
15	Bulgaria	3	5	4	4	7	3	8	1	12
16	Lithuania	8	3	13	5	2	5	6	17
17	Estonia	13	16	14	16	17	17		11
18	Israel	7	15	17	13	16	16		4	7

Detailed voting results from San Marino (Final)[35]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		F. Raggi	M. Sarti	D. Pazzini	S. Sacchi	E. Conti	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	19	23	23	20	26	24		15
02	Poland	8	14	13	11	9	10	1	18
03	Belarus	26	21	6	26	10	21		17
04	Austria	10	8	11	13	13	11		20
05	Armenia	20	9	4	5	5	7	4	19
06	Netherlands	6	5	3	10	6	4	7	14
07	Moldova	23	13	19	2	16	14		3	8
08	Hungary	13	11	17	23	22	20		7	4
09	Italy	1	10	21	4	8	8	3	2	10
10	Denmark	21	15	12	19	18	18		16
11	Portugal	2	1	1	6	1	1	12	4	7
12	Azerbaijan	16	4	8	9	4	6	5	10	1
13	Croatia	17	22	14	24	25	22		8	3
14	Australia	9	16	22	15	17	16		24
15	Greece	12	20	5	18	14	13		23
16	Spain	22	25	26	17	24	25		25
17	Norway	5	3	16	1	2	2	10	21
18	United Kingdom	4	2	2	7	19	5	6	12
19	Cyprus	24	19	25	25	23	26		22
20	Romania	25	17	15	22	7	19		5	6
21	Germany	14	24	24	12	11	17		26
22	Ukraine	11	18	20	3	12	12		11
23	Belgium	3	7	9	8	3	3	8	6	5
24	Sweden	18	26	18	21	21	23		9	2
25	Bulgaria	7	6	7	14	15	9	2	1	12
26	France	15	12	10	16	20	15		13