The women who made their mark on the Ariston stage From undisputed icons like Mia Martini and Raffaella Carrà to the Y2K of Paola and Chiara

In more than 70 years, the Sanremo Festival has reserved a marginal role for women, allowing a dozen to host it and just over 30 to win it. But it was women who decreed the success of Italy's most popular pop music competition: Nilla Pizzi inaugurated it, Mina determined its first iconic moments, Loredana Bertè shocked the audience with a fake baby bump, Anna Oxa showed us the meaning of the adjective "chameleon-like" associated for the first time with an Italian star. In more recent times, Carmen Consoli made Confusa e Felice a female motto for every moment of indecision, while Paola and Chiara brought international appeal to our own Y2K. Now that times have changed, that women are welcomed on stage as a symbol of determination and talent (except for a few unfortunate phrases by Amadeus that we have all in all been able to forgive), the female presence will be represented this year by a small parterre de rois (or, in this case, de reines) that includes Lorella Cuccarini, Giorgia and Teresa Mannino.

Here, then, is a short list to go over stories of women whose art and style have left an indelible mark on the history of the Sanremo Festival.

Icons: Mia Martini, Romina Power, Raffaella Carrà

«I designed the clothes I wore on stage, all of them always and only white, because it was the colour of mourning in Chinese culture, which I was studying a lot at the time, and it represented for me the end of the love story I was talking about in the song», Elisa will often say this, remembering the gauzy top and white trousers she wore to perform her first hit in Italian, Luce (tramonti a nord est): she arrives smiling, shy and barefoot, and although the announced winner is called Giorgia, she surprises everyone and takes home the podium. The new millennium also marks the triumph of another outsider, Alexia, a dance wave with funky vibes, expressed in terms of look in zebra print, scarf, glitter or striped trousers and micro tops. A combination not too different from the one worn by the very young Paola and Chiara in black latex trousers and pastel shirts. It is impossible not to remember the two of them, dressed alike, sitting on high stools and looking into each other's eyes as they sang Amici come prima in unison. The Iezzi sisters are not yet the it-girls we will remember from the video of Vamos a bailar, but already in the late 90s they hint at their biting potential. The first outfit? A white minidress with 60s glamour, while for their 2001 performance they opted for an off-the-shoulder top and an ultra-short miniskirt with studs and a train.