It's that time of the year, again: the 2009 Festival di Sanremo is raging this week on Italian TV -- like Eurovision only much, much cheesier. If anything, it's a show that succeeds in lowering the already appalling standards of Italian TV (as previously reported, soprano Daniela Dessì will appear later this week in a duet with pop singer Renga).
And last night, Italian chanteuse Mina -- in the 1960s, a huge celebrity of Italian pop who has since the 1970s pretty much disappeared from public view, regularly publishing new records -- then CDs -- but always careful to withhold from a still adoring public her actual physical presence (over the decades, the weight of the once-curvy singer has ballooned to Caballé-esque poundage).
The 68-year-old Mina opened this year's festival last night, with a video of her singing, of all things, "Nessun Dorma".
Surprisingly, people here loved it.
The video evidence:
And this is the singer, back in 1972, trying on Mimì for size, instead.