Sanremo and Eurovision: how Italy's entry is chosen

Most countries choose a Eurovision entry by holding a show for that purpose. Italy does not. Its entry comes out of the Festival di Sanremo, a song festival that exists for its own reasons, has its own winner and was there before the contest was. That order of priority explains almost everything about how Italy ends up on the Eurovision stage.

Sanremo first, Eurovision second

The Sanremo festival is older than Eurovision. Italy was one of the seven countries at the first contest, in Lugano in 1956, and it already had a national song festival by then.

Sanremo is not a Eurovision selection in the way a national final is. It is a competition among Italian songs, broadcast by RAI, with a winner of its own, and the Eurovision place is a consequence of it rather than its purpose. In recent years the Sanremo winner has been offered Italy's place at Eurovision. That is the practice as it has been reported, not a rule this site has read in RAI's own regulations, and the wording matters: offered, not sent.

The 2027 dates as reported

Eurovoix reported on 6 June 2026 that Sanremo 2027 will run from 16 to 20 February 2027 at the Teatro Ariston, with Stefano De Martino as artistic director, and its calendar carries the Sanremo Giovani final for 18 December 2026. RAI's own announcement is not cited here, so this page carries both as reported.

Both dates are on the calendar. Sanremo finishes on a Saturday in late February, which puts Italy's song on the record with almost three months to go before the grand final in Burgas on 15 May.

The unconfirmed part: a "Eurovision night"

A "Eurovision night" at Sanremo on 19 February 2027 has been reported. RAI has not confirmed it, and until RAI does, this site treats it as a report: an outlet said it, which is not the same as the broadcaster saying it. What such a night would be — a separate vote, a showcase, something else — is not something this page can describe, because no confirmed description exists. If RAI confirms it, the calendar gets the entry and this page gets the paragraph.

Italy's record

Italy has won three times.

It has hosted three times: Naples in 1965, Rome in 1991 and Turin in 2022, at the Pala Alpitour. Italy was absent between 1998 and 2010, then won within a decade of returning. It is confirmed for 2027 on the tracker.

Big Five: straight to the final

Italy is one of the Big Five, with France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom: the five broadcasters contributing the most to the contest's budget, pre-qualified for the grand final. If the Big Five exemption carries over as it has for years, whatever comes out of Sanremo performs on the Saturday in Burgas without going through a semi-final. How the semi-finals work covers the rest of the mechanism, including the Big Five performing as non-competing previews in a semi-final.

What is not settled for 2027

Whether the Sanremo 2027 winner takes Italy's place, or is offered it, is for RAI to say, and RAI has not said it. The 19 February "Eurovision night" is unconfirmed. Who competes at Sanremo 2027 is the festival's to announce, and no name appears here before it does.

On the Eurovision side, the EBU has announced the dates — the semi-finals on Tuesday 11 May and Thursday 13 May, the grand final on Saturday 15 May 2027 — the venue, Arena Burgas, and six preview shows between 10 and 15 May. The rules for 2027, including whether the Big Five exemption carries over unchanged, have not been published.