Sanremo Music Festival: Italy’s most famous song contest

A quick guide to the 2025 Sanremo Music Festival.

Italy's most popular song contest returns to its usual venue at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, with 29 artists battling it out over five nights from 11-15 February 2025. The event, whose official title is the Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo, has been held at the seaside town on the northwest Ligurian coast every year since 1951. Now in its 75th edition, Sanremo is the world's longest-running annual televised music competition at a national level and served as the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest. As per tradition, whoever wins Sanremo will have the possibility to represent Italy at the Eurovision which is scheduled to take place in Basel from 13-17 May 2025.

Claim to fame

Over the years Sanremo has launched the careers of numerous Italian acts, notably Andrea Bocelli, Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, Zucchero and the 2021 winners Mäneskin. Mahmood & Blanco won the 2022 edition of Sanremo with their song Brividi while Marco Mengoni won in 2023 with his song Due vite. Angelina Mango won last year with La Noia. The festival's biggest claim to fame internationally is the song Nel blu, dipinto di blu, popularly known as "Volare", performed by Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno at the 1958 Sanremo before it took the world by storm.

Love it or hate it

Surrounded by hype, the annual extravaganza tends to divide Italy into the "love it or hate it" camps, along with Italians who profess to never watch it but in reality are among the millions glued to their television screens.

Who hosts Sanremo?

The 2025 host and artistic director will be Carlo Conti who previously hosted three editions of Sanremo - in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The veteran TV presenter takes over from Amedeo Sebastiani, better known as Amadeus, who hosted the event for the last five years in a row. Conti will be joined on stage by a series of celebrity co-hosts whose line-up will alternate each night.

  Notable hosts of Sanremo over the years include veteran TV presenters Pippo Baudo and Mike Bongiorno, who each hosted about a dozen editions of the festival. In 2001 Sanremo was presented by Italian pop icon Raffaella Carrà who died in 2021 aged 78.

Controversy

The line-up of artists scheduled to perform at this year's Sanremo includes Rome rapper Tony Effe, who was dropped from the capital's New Year's Eve concert line-up at the last minute after women's groups and politicians slammed his sexist and misogynistic lyrics. There were also calls for him to be excluded from Sanremo however Conti ruled this out, saying there would be "no censorship" and that Tony Effe would "amaze" the audience. 29 acts instead of 30 Milan rapper Emis Killa dropped out of the Sanremo line-up on 29 January after learning he was included in a criminal investigation into ultrà leaders at AC Milan and Inter Milan football clubs. Killa will not be substituted on the Sanremo programme whose number of acts drops to 29 instead of the usual 30, according to a statement issued by state broadcaster RAI.

2025 performers and their songs

The following artists and acts are in competition this year: Achille Lauro - "Incoscienti giovani"
Bresh - "La tana del granchio"
Brunori Sas - "L'albero delle noci"
Clara - "Febbre"
Coma_Cose - "Cuoricini"
Elodie - "Dimenticarsi alle 7"
Fedez - "Battito"
Francesca Michielin - "Fango in Paradiso"
Francesco Gabbani - "Viva la vita"
Gaia - "Chiamo io chiami tu"
Giorgia - "La cura per me"
Irama - "Lentamente"
Joan Thiele - "Eco"
Lucio Corsi - "Volevo essere un duro"
Marcella Bella - "Pelle diamante"
Massimo Ranieri - "Tra le mani un cuore"
Modà - "Non ti dimentico"
Noemi - "Se t'innamori muori"
Olly - "Balorda nostalgia"
Rkomi - "Il ritmo delle cose"
Rocco Hunt - "Mille vote ancora"
Rose Villain - "Fuorilegge"
Sarah Toscano - "Amarcord"
Shablo feat. Guè, Joshua & Tormento - "La mia parola"
Serena Brancale - "Anema e core"
Simone Cristicchi - "Quando sarai piccola"
The Kolors - "Tu con chi fai l'amore"
Tony Effe - "Damme 'na mano"
Willie Peyote - "Grazie ma no grazie"

Sanremo origins

The origins of Sanremo go back to post-war Italy when the festival was established to revitalise the battered economy and forge a new cultural identity. Between 1953 and 1971 the festival welcomed guest artists from abroad who launched their songs to a new Italian audience. Among the many international acts who performed at Sanremo during this era were Louis Armstrong, Stevie Wonder, Cher, Dionne Warwick and Shirley Bassey.

Festival format

Each act performs a new, original song, which has never been released, with the winner selected by a jury and an online public vote. The artists, divided into two groups, perform their songs over the first two nights of the festival. The singers then return to the stage to perform again, while the Friday night will see the acts perform covers of Italian or international songs recorded between the 1960s and 2000s. On the last night the singers will perform their songs again before the winner is announced.

Where to watch Sanremo

The festival will be screened by state broadcaster RAI 1 every evening, starting from 20.35, and in streaming on Rai Play, from 11-15 February.

How to follow Sanremo

The festival can be followed on its official website as well as its social media channels. Cover image: Teatro Ariston. Photo credit: Andrea Izzotti / Shutterstock.com.