There is a calm, thoughtful confidence about Leonardo Giovanangeli that feels unusual for someone his age. At just 11, the Roman singer has already stepped onto major stages, worked with respected Italian artists and, this year, takes on the responsibility of representing Italy at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
When we spoke with him — a few days before he boarded the plane to Tbilisi — that mixture of excitement and discipline was impossible to ignore.
Leonardo remembers the moment everything shifted with surprising clarity.
He had just returned home from school when his mother delivered a sentence that would redefine his year:
“Leonardo, you will represent Italy at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.”
His reaction, however, was everything but ordinary: he froze, unable to speak. The news felt improbable even to him, especially after not winning The Voice Kids. The surprise soon gave way to pride, and that pride now fuels much of his preparation.
By the time of our interview, Junior Eurovision had already become part of Leonardo’s everyday routine.
His days were built around rehearsals, vocal warm-ups and repeated run-throughs of the choreography. He had also seen the costume and stage concept — details he guarded carefully but spoke about with a soft gleam in his eyes.
One piece of advice resurfaced several times in our conversation: words from Clementino, his coach on The Voice Kids.
The rapper encouraged him to sing by releasing every drop of negative energy and embracing the moment. Leonardo seems to have taken that to heart.
Unlike many Junior Eurovision entries, Leonardo’s song is not simply handed to him.
He co-wrote it together with vocal coach Claudia Zennecchia and producer Giancarlo Brandelli, shaping lyrics and ideas until the track felt like an honest reflection of who he is at this particular moment in his life.
For an artist so young, that level of involvement is uncommon — and it shows. When he speaks about the song, there is no rehearsed distance. It’s his work, his voice, his story.
About his influences, Leonardo immediately mention Michael Jackson — the artist he first tried to imitate as a child.
But the list doesn’t stop there. Italian singer Alex Baroni holds a special place in his heart, and internationally he looks up to stage legends like Elvis Presley, James Brown and Little Richard. It’s an eclectic group, but each name reveals something about what Leonardo values: emotion, technical skill and a bold stage presence.
Junior Eurovision may be his biggest stage so far, but it is certainly not his final destination.
Leonardo speaks openly about seeing himself at Sanremo in the future — whether through Giovani or the main Campioni category — and he follows the festival closely enough to already have hopes for the 2026 lineup. (Arisa, to be precise, whom he met and admires deeply.)
His relationship with the adult Eurovision is more recent — only the last two years — but the ambition is already there. Among this year’s ESC entries, his favourite was Lucio Corsi’s, a choice that aligns neatly with his taste for distinctive voices.
Italy requires each Junior Eurovision song to be performed at least partially in Italian, a rule Leonardo defends without hesitation.
Even though he enjoys singing in English, he sees the bilingual format as a fair balance — a way to honour his country while still reaching an international audience. Representing Italy, he insists, means carrying its language on stage too.
Before we ended our conversation, Leonardo delivered a message in his own words, direct and charmingly assertive:
“If you want to be a Rockstar, vote for me — vote for Italy on jesc.tv.”
The vote opens on 12 December. By then, Leonardo will already be in Tbilisi, looking at the stage not as a child doing something extraordinary, but as a young artist finally stepping into a dream he has quietly built for years.
