Sanremo Music Festival 2026

The Sanremo Music Festival 2026 (Italian: Festival di Sanremo 2026), officially the 76th Italian Song Festival (76º Festival della canzone italiana), was the 76th edition of the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held in the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo, organised and broadcast by Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). It was held between 24 and 28 February 2026, and was presented by Carlo Conti – who also served as the artistic director for the competition – and singer Laura Pausini. The festival was won by Sal Da Vinci with "Per sempre sì", earning him the right to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.^[3]

The 2026 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival took place at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, organised by the Italian public broadcaster RAI. Due to the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics being held in Italy between 6–22 February and 6–15 March 2026, respectively, the festival took place in the last week of February 2026.^[4][5][6] The complete rules were published on 16 October 2025.^[3]

In December 2024, the regional administrative court (TAR) of Liguria ruled that the municipality of Sanremo could not directly appoint RAI as the organiser of the event, and that, starting in 2026, a public bid must be held in order to determine the organising company.^[7] Two months later, RAI appealed the ruling, arguing that "[RAI's] branding is inseparable from the [festival's] format";^[8] however, the Council of State would later uphold the TAR's decision in May 2025.^[9] Despite a unilateral proposal forwarded by RAI, the municipality followed the TAR ruling^[4] and published a public tender on 9 April 2025, with broadcasters being able to apply within 40 days.^[10] Ultimately, the only applicant was RAI,^[11] and, following the ruling of the Council of State, negotiations began between the broadcaster and the Sanremo municipality to define the terms of the new contract.^[9] RAI and Sanremo, however, kept clashing over the ownership of the festival's brand, with the broadcaster setting a deadline of 1 August 2025, after which it would organize the contest as Festival della Canzone Rai ("RAI Song Festival") in a different location. The possible choices included Naples, Turin, Milan, Viareggio and Rimini.^[12] It was later reported that the parties had reached an agreement to keep the contest in Sanremo.^[13]

On 22 May 2024, RAI announced Carlo Conti – who had previously taken on the role in 2015, 2016 and 2017 – as the artistic director and main host of the 2025 and 2026 editions.^[14][15] Following the 2025 edition, Conti confirmed his position as artistic director and possible host for the 2026 festival.^[16]

In late October 2025, Conti announced that the special DopoFestival broadcast after each of the shows would be hosted by Nicola Savino.^[17] In mid-December, the complete lineup for the side broadcasts was announced, with Enrico Cremonesi, Aurora Leone and Federico Basso alongside Savino; Daniele Battaglia on the external "Suzuki Stage"; Ema Stokholma, Carolina Rey and Manola Moslehi hosting the opening PrimaFestival segment; and Gianluca Gazzoli co-hosting the Newcomers' competition after serving as the main presenter for the pre-selection.^[18][19][20]

The following month, Laura Pausini was revealed to be the co-host for all the nights of the festival,^[20][21] while at the end of January Conti added Achille Lauro as a co-host for the second night^[22] and in February Can Yaman as co-host of the first night,^[23][24] Lillo of the second and Andrea Pucci of the fourth;^[25] Pucci renounced his role shortly after, amid accusations of racism and homophobia as well as insults and criticism over his political sympathies.^[26] Italian actress Pilar Fogliati co-hosted the second night,^[27] Russian supermodel Irina Shayk and Italian comedian Ubaldo Pantani (in his impression of Lapo Elkann) the third,^[28][29] and Italian supermodel Bianca Balti the fourth;^[30] on that night, comedian Alessandro Siani joi as a surprise co-host.^[31] The co-hosts for the final were TG1 journalist Giorgia Cardinaletti and comedian Nino Frassica.^[32][33]

The official music theme of the festival, "È Sanremo", was set to the tune of "Emigrato" by Welo, one of the finalist entries of the Sanremo Giovani selection which failed to qualify for the contest.^[34]

Between November 2025 and February 2026, a number of promotional ads for the festival were shot in different cities around Italy; in each promo, in keeping with the slogan Tutti cantano Sanremo ("Everybody sings Sanremo"), a local orchestra is shown playing and singing an entry from a past edition of Sanremo in a public square of the city, joined by gatherings of passerbys. The promos were aired in the weeks preceding the festival, starting on 14 December.^[35]

Voting occurred again through the combination of three methods:^[3]

• Public televoting, carried out via landline and mobile phone.
• Jury of the press room, TV and web.
• Jury of the radio.

Their voting was articulated as follows:^[3]

• First night: all 30 entrants were judged by the jury of the press room, TV and web.
• Second night: half of the entrants were judged through a 50/50 split system by means of televoting and the jury of the radio, to be added up to the results of the first night. The four newcomers, competing in two duels, were judged by all three juries, determining the two finalists.
• Third night: the other half of the main entrants and the two newcomer finalists were judged as on the previous night, with the winner of the latter section being proclaimed.
• Fourth night: the covers were judged through a split system by means of the televoting (34%) and the two juries (33% each), determining the winner of the night.
• Fifth night: the entrants were judged through a split system by means of the televote (34%), and the two juries (33% each), to be added up to the results of the first three nights; ultimately, a final voting round (with the same split system) was held among the top five, which determined the winner.

Following the festival, Carlo Conti hosted two special broadcasts, titled Sanremo Top, on 7 and 14 March 2026, focusing on the commercial and chart success of the competing entries; the broadcasts reprised a similar programme with the same title which had regularly aired in the 1990s and 2000s.^[44]

The four artists competing in the Newcomers' section, limited to people aged 16 to 29, were determined through two separate contests, namely Sanremo Giovani and Area Sanremo.^[45]

Two newcomers were determined through the Sanremo Giovani format. The contest was held from 11 November to 14 December 2025, and took place in three stages:^{[6][45][46][47][48]}

• four weekly "challenges" on 11, 18, 25 November and 2 December, held in Rome, presented by Gianluca Gazzoli and airing on Rai 2, each seeing six contestants, three of them advancing to the next stage based on the votes of the musical committee;
• a semi-final on 9 December, also held in Rome with Gazzoli and airing on Rai 2, where five (originally meant to be six) of the remaining eleven (originally meant to be twelve)^[b] contestants were eliminated by the musical committee;
• a final on 14 December, titled Sarà Sanremo, held at the Sanremo Casino Theatre and presented by Gazzoli and Carlo Conti, airing live on Rai 1; the six finalists competed for two spots in the festival; the results were determined by the votes of the musical committee.

Online submissions for the selection were open between 10 September and 15 October 2025. On 22 October 2025, it was announced that 524 acts had applied, 34 of which were selected by a musical committee – composed of professionals Ema Stokholma, Carolina Rey, Manola Moslehi, Enrico Cremonesi, Daniele Battaglia and RAI director Claudio Fasulo, and chaired by the artistic director (Conti) – to take part in an audition round in Rome, where 24 of them advanced to the televised stage.^[45][46][47]

The rules of the Area Sanremo selection, organised by the Municipality of Sanremo alongside the Sanremo Symphonic Orchestra Foundation, were released on 28 October 2025, with the opening of an online application platform lasting between 29 October and 29 November 2025.^[56][57] The 505 submitting acts were auditioned by a musical committee between 6 and 11 December 2025 at the Sanremo Palafiori, with the 22 qualifiers from this phase attending a second auditon round on 12 December, where ten winners were proclaimed; these proceeded to a final audition on 13 December, in which the two Sanremo newcomers were selected.^[58][59][60]

The contest features a Big Artists section and a Newcomers' section. The entries competing in the former were selected by the artistic director both from public submissions and by direct invitation, and were announced on 30 November 2025;^[63] the number of entries, originally planned to be 26, was later announced to be higher^[17] and finally revealed to be 30.^[63] Four acts, as determined through the Sanremo Giovani and Area Sanremo formats, are competing in the latter section. The titles of the Big Artists' entries, as well as those of the two newcomers selected from Area Sanremo, were announced during Sarà Sanremo, the special broadcast of 14 December 2025 in which the Sanremo Giovani final was included.^[60][64]

For the first time in the history of the festival, the hosts and performers of the Big Artists section were invited by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to attend a ceremony at the Quirinal Palace on 13 February 2026.^[65]

All 30 artists performed their competing songs. The top 5 were announced in a random order.^[3]

Fifteen of the competing artists performed their competing songs for a second time. The top 5 were announced in a random order.^[3]

The night was opened by the Newcomers' semi-final.^[3]

The remaining fifteen artists performed their competing songs for a second time. The top 5 were announced in a random order.^[3]

The night was opened by the Newcomers' final.^[80]

The artists performed an Italian or international song from the past, duetting with one or more guest performers.^[3]

All 30 artists performed their competing songs. The top 5 artists of the combined rankings of this and the first three shows advanced to a superfinal, where the juries and televote determined the winner.^[3][33]

Special guests included:

• first night – latest Sanremo winner Olly, 106-year-old Gianna Pratesi (among the Italian women who first voted in the 1946 Italian institutional referendum), Tiziano Ferro, Gaia and Kabir Bedi;^{[87][88][89][90][91]}
• second night – ANFFAS choir, Olympic medalists Francesca Lollobrigida and Lisa Vittozzi, Paralympic athletes Giacomo Bertagnolli and Giuliana Turra, Bresh, soprano Valentina Gargano, Camilla Ardenzi (Ornella Vanoni's granddaughter) and Fausto Leali;^[92][93]
• third night – Mogol, Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano, Virginia Raffaele, Fabio De Luigi, Alicia Keys, Eros Ramazzotti and The Kolors;^[80][94]
• fourth night – Francesco Gabbani, Caterina Caselli and Vincenzo Schettini;^[95][96]
• fifth night – Andrea Bocelli, Pooh, Stefano De Martino and Gino Cecchettin.^[33][97][98]

Gaia, Bresh, The Kolors, Francesco Gabbani and Pooh, each a guest on one of the evenings, are performing from the "Suzuki Stage" in Piazza Colombo.^[99] Singer Max Pezzali was a regular guest on all of the nights, performing live from the stage of a cruise ship;^[20][100] another regular guest on the first three nights was impressionist Vincenzo De Lucia, impersonating Pausini in brief skits.^[101]

In addition, historical Sanremo figures that died throughout the previous year – namely Pippo Baudo, Peppe Vessicchio, Ornella Vanoni, Sandro Giacobbe, Tony Dallara, Angela Luce, Gianni Pettenati and Maurizio Costanzo – were memorialized,^[102][103] while Fausto Leali, Mogol, Caterina Caselli, Andrea Bocelli and Pooh were awarded special lifetime achievement prizes.^{[32][93][104]} Stefano De Martino was introduced as the main host of the 2027 festival.^[98]

Rai 1 and Rai Radio 2 brought the official broadcasts of the festival in Italy – the latter with commentary by Gino Castaldo and Ema Stokholma. The five evenings were also streamed online via the broadcaster's official online platform RaiPlay.^[105]

Outside Italy, RAI aired the festival on its international channel Rai Italia and made the RaiPlay broadcast available worldwide, including all member countries of the European Broadcasting Union;^[106] the festival, serving as the Italian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, was also broadcast on the Eurovision network.

• Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026

• Official website of the Sanremo Music Festival (in Italian)
• Official website of Sanremo Giovani (in Italian)
• Official website of Area Sanremo (in Italian)