The coaches were listening for a voice. They probably didn’t expect the singer behind them to be a nun in a black habit.
But that was exactly who walked onto the stage of The Voice of Italy.
Sister Cristina Scuccia, a 25-year-old Sicilian nun living in Milan, had come to sing Alicia Keys’ “No One.” And she was ready to give it some energy.
What followed was one of those auditions where the reactions become almost as entertaining as the performance itself.
The audition was only the beginning
Cristina’s performance spread far beyond Italy. By the time the competition reached its final, the audition video had attracted more than 100 million YouTube views, and Alicia Keys herself had acknowledged it with a supportive tweet.
Then came an even bigger result: Cristina won the 2014 season of The Voice of Italy, earning 62.3 percent of the final vote.
Still, there is something especially enjoyable about returning to that first audition. Before the international attention and the trophy, there was a young woman singing a song she wanted people to hear, while four chairs stood between her and the next step.
Watch Sister Cristina’s blind audition below:
There was a musical dream behind the habit
According to the show’s official introduction, Cristina had dreamed of singing since childhood.
At the time of her audition, she belonged to the Ursuline Sisters of the Holy Family, and her superiors had encouraged her to take part.
That background gives the clip a little more meaning. Singing was already part of her life.
This was an opportunity to share it with a much bigger audience, with all the nerves and uncertainty that come with stepping onto a television stage.
Where is Cristina now?
One interesting thing to know is that Cristina is no longer a nun and now performs under her own name, Cristina Scuccia.
She publicly revealed her decision to leave religious life in 2022, but music has stayed with her.
Since then, she has released songs including “La felicità è una direzione,” “Se avessi,” and “Parapendio,” and appeared as a team captain on the Italian television shows Io Canto Generation and Io Canto Family
In 2026, she also brought her story to the stage with her Metamorfosi Tour. Quite a different chapter from that first audition, though singing is still very much at the center of it.