Sanremo Music Festival 2026

Legal dispute over RAI's role

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]

Presenters

Carlo Conti and Laura Pausini, main hosts of Sanremo 2026

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 [it], Aurora Leone and Federico Basso [it] alongside Savino; Daniele Battaglia on the external "Suzuki Stage"; Ema Stokholma, Carolina Rey [it] 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 [it] 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 [it] (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]

Theme music

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]

Promos

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 passersby. The promos were aired in the weeks preceding the festival, starting on 14 December.^[35]

Voting

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.

Sanremo Top

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]

Sanremo Giovani 2025

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 [it], Manola Moslehi, Enrico Cremonesi [it], Daniele Battaglia and RAI director Claudio Fasulo [it], 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]

Area Sanremo 2025

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]

First night

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

Second night

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]

Third night

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]

Fourth night

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

Fifth night

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]

Local broadcast

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

International broadcast

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.

Ratings