Sanremo 2026: how will the competition reinvent itself this year?

Earlier this week, RAI confirmed Italy's participation in Eurovision 2026 in Vienna. As every year, the selection of the Italian artist will be made via the Sanremo 2026 Music Festival.

After the uncertainties surrounding the festival Earlier this year, following a falling out between the festival organisers and Sanremo town council, we wondered whether the format would change this year. The answer: no. Sanremo 2026 will remain virtually unchanged from last year.

When will the 2026 Sanremo Festival take place?

RAI will be broadcasting the festival, with five evenings from 24 to 28 February 2026 !

• The first evening on 24 February will see the 26 artists perform their songs live. At the end of the evening, late into the night, the top five artists will be announced, in no particular order. The rankings will be compiled by professional TV and online media journalists.
• The evenings of 25 and 26 February will see 13 artists perform their song again each evening, but this time the rankings will be decided by a televote and a vote by Italian radio representatives.
• For the fourth evening on 27 February, the 26 artists will sing a cover of Italian music or a non-Italian song, and this time the ranking will be decided by a vote made up of 34% from the televoting, 33% from the press, TV and Internet jury, and 33% from the radio jury. At the end of the evening, a trophy will be awarded to the winning cover artist. The results of this evening will not be included in the overall results for the week.
• For the grand final on 28 February, the 26 artists will perform their song again and the vote will be split between a televote at 34%, a vote by the press, TV and Internet jury at 33% and the radio jury at 33%.

A final vote will be held to determine the overall winner, after a re-performance by the top five artists, in the same proportions as before. It is this winner who will have the honour of representing Italy on the Eurovision 2026 stage!

Can we avoid the drama of 2025?

In 2025, the winner Ollie had rejected the offer to represent Italy at Eurovision. It is Lucio Corsiwho came second and accepted. Let's remind ourselves. Sanremo is an Italian music festival. Its primary role is not to select Italy's representative at Eurovision, and this has not always been the case.

So, to avoid a repeat of 2025, the organisers have decided to ask each artist competing at the Sanremo Festival to express their interest by filling in an interest form:

• If the winner of Sanremo 2026 has previously signed this form, he or she automatically becomes Italy's representative at Eurovision 2026.

• If the winner refuses to go to Eurovision, the festival organisers will select an artist from among those who have signed the interest form. This selection will be made according to the organising committee's own criteria, without necessarily taking into account the final Sanremo ranking.

We can't wait for the line-up to be unveiled later in the season. The Sanremo festival is an eagerly awaited event for all Eurovision and Italian music fans!

Italy at Eurovision

Year	Artist	Song	Points	Ranking
2025	Lucio Corsi	Volevo essere un duro	256	5
2024	Angelina Mango	La noia	268	7
2023	Marco Mengoni	Due vite	350	4
2022	Mahmood & Blanco	Brividi	268	6
2021	Måneskin	Zitti e buoni	524	1 WINNER
(2020)	Diodato	Fai rumore	-	-
2019	Mahmood	Soldi	472	2
2018	Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro	Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente	308	5
2017	Francesco Gabbani	Occidentali's Karma	334	6
2016	Francesca Michielin	No Degree of Separation	124	16
2015	Il Volo	Grande Amore	292	3

See all results for: Italie

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Sanremo Festival sanremo