Ciao, ragazzi!
I hope you’ve stocked up on your Ferrero Pocket Coffees because this week is the 76th Festival della Canzone Italiana. Sanremo is finally here!
Sanremo 2026 officially kicks off on Tuesday, February 24, at the legendary Teatro Ariston, and no matter how many years you’ve watched, you’re never quite ready for the spectacle. This year, legendary host and Artistic Director Carlo Conti returns to the helm alongside co-host Laura Pausini, guiding us through five nights of music, drama, and 30 brand-new songs.
Whether you are a die-hard fan or a newcomer trying to understand why a rapper is chasing a vacuum cleaner, we have everything you need to know about the 2026 lineup.
Three Things Every Sanremo Viewer Should Understand
For those of you not familiar with this extravaganza, it’s important to know three things:
It’s Not a National Final
Sanremo predates Eurovision. It started way back in 1951 as a celebration of Italian music and culture, and the EBU thought it was such a good idea that they created Eurovision five years later. The winner of Sanremo can go to Eurovision, but isn’t obligated to.
It looks longer than it feels
Yes, the full Sanremo festival will run for about 25 hours, give or take, over a five-night period. But it’s not an endurance sport. Rather than watching 25 hours of television, Sanremo is an incredibly engrossing soap opera, with storylines developing before our eyes over the week.
But it will Feel Like A Fever Dream
It doesn’t matter if you speak Italian or not – there are things that happen at Sanremo that simply do not make sense. Why is John Travolta doing the chicken dance? Why is Blanco destroying the stage? Why is the Harlem Gospel Choir standing by while Achille Lauro baptises himself on stage? How did an extraterrestrial find out about Sanremo, and why is his name Rich Ciolino? Why is Piero Pelu stealing purses from women in the audience? How long will the host keep playing with a vocoder mic? Why are no women in the top five? (That, my friends, is a question for another article!) Just looking at the names of any team in a Fantasanremo League points to the many shenanigans that have taken place across the years.
The Sanremo 2026 Lineup and Format Changes
While the lyrics have been released, we haven’t heard any of the songs yet. Those will be debuted on Tuesday night, when all 30 of the artists appearing in the Big Competition will perform. (There is also a Sanremo Newcomers competition happening alongside the Big Competition on the second and third nights of the competition; you can listen to all those songs here.
Protest and Policy: Political Songs Return to the Ariston in 2026
2024’s Sanremo Festival contained acts who grappled with immigration and openly called for an end to the war in Gaza – statements which led to criticism from the government. Carlo Conti, Creative Director of Sanremo, declared the 2025 festival to be a “no war and immigration” zone. What we got instead was a festival of interior-looking songs, with those scoring high focusing on family, love, mental health and one’s self-image.
It looks like Conti has relaxed this rule in 2026, because political songs are making a return to the festival. Ermal Meta’s song Stella Stellina is about a young Palestinian girl who has died, with Meta singing “Non basta una preghiera” – “a prayer is not enough.”
Rapper Dargen D’Amico is also making a return this year, turning his satirical eye towards artificial intelligence and social media, and how what should have improved his life has ruined it.
And in her song Che Fastido!, Ditonellapiaga has a rundown of complaints about a whole range of topics, including Italian politicians, the American dream, drink spiking, tax forms, and the inability to tell the difference between reality and jokes in an increasingly surreal world. She even sneaks in a reference to former UK Prime Minister Theresa May singing “God Save The Queen” at a piano bar while on vacation in Italy.
Is There Going To Be An Earworm?
The song you’ll probably hear the most during the festival – the music used to lead into ad breaks – was originally written as a song about the divide between Northern and Southern Italy by the rapper Welo. But the lyrics: “Emigrato, disgraziato, sfaticato” (Immigrant, disgrace, lazy) have been changed to “Italiano, spensierato, scanzonato!” (Italian, carefree, lighthearted). Like Gabry Ponte last year, I hope that Welo gets a chance to perform his song on the main stage, but I hope even more that he gets to perform the original lyrics.
Neapolitan Influence: Luchè and Sal da Vinci Represent Naples
Neapolitan culture will be on display at the festival in several different forms. One of the artists making their debut, despite having a career spanning three decades , is the rapper Luchè. Luchè started his career with the Neapolitan rap group “Co’Sang” when he was just 16. When they broke up in 2012, Luchè started a solo career. He’s since started his own record label which has signed other rappers from Naples, including Geolier MV Killa, and Vale Lambo. And Luchè isn’t just interested in sharing Neapolitan culture through music – he also owns a pizzeria in south London! Here’s an example of his style, in a duet with Geolier that was a hit last year:
Another side of Neapolitan culture will be on display from Sal da Vinci, a balladeer who literally grew up performing Neapolitan canzone. Sal’s first album appearance was 50 years ago, when he did vocals on a Christmas album released by his father, singer Mario da Vinci. Sal made his debut as a singer in his own right in 1994. At this year’s Sanremo, he will be singing the song Per Sempre Si, about an enduring love.
The Industry Veterans
One of the great things about Sanremo is that it is a festival of new Italian songs, not just new Italian artists. As a result, each year the festival welcomes artists who are giants of the Italian music industry.
This year, there are two in particular that are standing out to me. The first is Patty Pravo, who has been in the music industry for an astounding sixty years. 2026 will mark her 11th time competing in the Festival. In between then and now, she’s made all types of music – from sultry Nancy Sinatra-esque bangers to a New Wave album to plaintive ballads. Her song this year is called Opera – but to get a sense of the sheer slinky insouciance she can bring to the stage, watch this 1978 performance of her song “Pensiero Stupendo”, complete with cigarette in hand:
Another returning veteran is Raf, who may better be known to English-language speakers as the singer of the 1984 hit Self Control. After a career in London, he moved back to Italy to work as a singer/songwriter, co-writing the winner of the 1984 Sanremo contest and writing and performing “Gente di Mare” with Umberto Tozzi at 1987’s Eurovision. He’s back at the contest this year with the song “Ora E Per Sempre,” which was co-written with his son Samuele.
Nepo Babies
Look, I’m not saying these artists don’t have talent. I’m just noting their famous connections!
The most nepo of the nepo babies appearing this year is Elettra Lamborghini – yes of the automotive Lamborghinis. She has appeared in Sanremo before, in 2020, with the cute pop song “Musica (e il resto scompare)” where she placed 21st, and has released albums like Twerking Queen. But because much of her image is based on assets that work better in a visual medium, Lamborghini’s career has really taken off in television, where she has parlayed appearances on shows like Geordie Shore into a solid presenting career on shows like The Voice Italy. This year, her song is called “Voilà” and don’t worry, fans, she does begin it by announcing her name.
A nepo baby making his debut is the lo-fi rapper Tredici Pietro, who is the son of beloved Sanremo host and winner Gianni Morandi (better known to recent fans as the guy who grabbed the broom to clean up after Blanco’s rose tantrum.) Tredici Pietro is coming to Sanremo off a top 10 hit last year with the song “Che Gusto C’e?” (What’s the Taste?) with Fabri Fibra.
And finally, we have Leo Gassman. Gassman comes from an acting dynasty and is the son and grandson of Italian and French actors and directors. He won the Sanremo newcomers in 2020 with the song “Vai bene cose,” and participated again in 2023. And even though he wasn’t formally competing in 2024, it felt like he was, given that RAI took every opportunity in the ad break to publicise Gassman’s biopic of the singer-songwriter Franco Califano, which led me to yell “LEO GASSMAN” at the screen every single time it came on.
National Identity and Genre-Bending in the 2026 Contest
The star of Sanremo s was a song that wasn’t even in the competition. Gabry Ponte’s Tutta L’Italia was used as the clip music to head in and out of ad breaks, and by the time Ponte performed it as a special guest on the final night, the entire country of Italy was primed to sing along. Ponte brought it to Eurovision 2025 for San Marino, confusingly enough, and also performed it at the closing ceremony of the Milano-Cortina games just this week.
Veteran rapper J-Ax, who performed at Sanremo 2023 as part of the 90s hip-hop group Articolo 31, is bringing the national pride to the contest this year. He’ll be performing a song called “Italia Starter Pack,” It was co-written by Andrea Bonomo, one of the songwriters of Tutta L’Italia, who obviously felt that he had more to explore here. But what intrigues me is that Italia Starter Pack is – – country pop? A genre not traditionally associated with Italy?
And more…
There are 30 songs competing at the festival, not to mention the boat! And the Suzuki stage! And the guest performances! And the surprise cameos that will appear! I’ve barely scratched the surface of what is going to happen during the week, so stay tuned to ESC Insight for daily podcasts and articles covering all the festival shenanigans and what it’s like in and around Sanremo.