Rai the national broadcaster of Italy and host of the annual Festival di Sanremo have confirmed their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. This comes following the announcement of the rules for Sanremo 2026.
🇮🇹 Sanremo 2026 rules confirmed
Today, Rai have confirmed the rules for the upcoming edition of Festival di Sanremo. In doing so, Rai have also confirmed their intention to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 taking place in Vienna, Austria next May.
A total of 30 acts will perform in Sanremo 2026. Once again four acts will participate in the Nuove Proposte part of the festival, to celebrate new artists. 26 acts will compete in the main Campioni contest. The winner of Sanremo 2026 will be given first refusal to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. If they decline, Rai will continue down the placement order of the final.
Sanremo 2026 format and schedule
Next year Sanremo will take place in a later time slot at the end of February from the 24th-28th. This is to avoid clashing with Italy’s hosting of the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina earlier in the month. The structure of the festival is as follows:
- Night 1 – All 26 acts perform. A randomised top 5 of the press voting will be announced.
- Night 2 – 13 acts perform. A randomised top 5 of the combined radio jury and televoters will be announced.
- Night 3 – 13 acts perform. A randomised top 5 of the combined radio jury and televoters will be announced.
- Night 4 – ‘Covers Night’ – All 26 acts perform with a special guest of their choosing. This night is just for fun and does not count to the overall score.
- Night 5 – ‘Grand Final’ – All 26 acts perform. The final voting consists of 33% radio jury, 33% press jury and 34% televoting. This forms a combined average with nights 1, 2 and 3 to create a ranking table of the acts. Only places 26 through to 6 will be shown. The top 5 will progress to another round of voting combined with their previous scores to determine the overall winner of Sanremo 2026.
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