X Factor

X Factor Italia is an Italian television show and singing competition, based on the British TV programme The X Factor, and part of The X Factor franchise, created by Simon Cowell.

The show's first series premiered on 10 March 2008 and was broadcast by Rai Due, but since its fifth series, launched on 20 October 2011, it moved to Sky Uno, becoming the first version of the franchise to be broadcast by a pay television channel.

Each series of the show sees amateur singers of all ages and backgrounds auditioning in front of a panel of judges, selected for their role in the Italian or international music industry. Through several selection stages, each judge chooses a set of singers to mentor. Selected singers later compete on live shows, with a public vote eliminating these contestants one by one, until the final winner is declared.

X Factor was initially presented by Francesco Facchinetti (series 1–series 4). Alessandro Cattelan was the show's presenter from series 5 to series 14, followed by Ludovico Tersigni (series 15), Francesca Michielin (series 16 and series 17) and Giorgia (series 18 and series 19).

The show launched the career of several popular Italian singers, including Giusy Ferreri (series 1), Noemi (series 2), Marco Mengoni (series 3), Francesca Michielin (series 5), Chiara Galiazzo and Mahmood (series 6), Michele Bravi (series 7), Lorenzo Fragola (series 8), Enrico Nigiotti and Måneskin (series 11).