Sanremo 2025: All about the rules and how the evenings will unfold
Update - Read our article with the Sanremo Artists here.
The 75th edition of the Sanremo 2025 Italian Song Festival will be held from February 11 to 15, 2025, and the new rules has just been unveiled. After the change of artistic director announced earlier this year and Carlo Conti's takeover of the festival, the organisers have made a number of adjustments to the rhythm of the evenings and to keep the public's attention. Here's what's in store for each of the four evenings that will mark this not-to-be-missed musical event for Italy's Eurovision selection.
What is the Sanremo Festival?
The Sanremo Festival, or Festival della Canzone Italiana, is an annual music competition held in Sanremo, Italy. Founded in 1951, it is one of the country's most prestigious musical events. The festival, which is broadcast on national television, features Italian and international artists performing original songs, often in a melodic and popular style. It also plays an important role in launching new musical careers and is known as a springboard to other successes, including the selection of the Italian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.
First evening (Tuesday 11 February): Discovering the 30 artists in competition
The Festival will kick off with the 30 competing artists each presenting their own song. Each song must be in Italian. These performances will be assessed by a jury made up of journalists from the print, television and web media. This first evaluation will be crucial for the artists, as it will lay the foundations for the overall ranking.
Second and third evenings (Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 February): A decisive first vote - the arrival of the young talent
On Wednesday, half of the competing artists will perform again, while the second half will perform on Thursday. This time, the votes will be shared equally between the public, who will be able to express their views via televoting, and a jury of professionals from the world of radio. This double-entry voting mechanism (50% public, 50% radio jury) will ensure a balanced assessment between popularity and professional criticism.
These two evenings will also see the semi-final of the ‘Nouvelles Propositions’ (see below). Four young artists will compete, two each evening, over the two days under the watchful eye of the public, the press jury and the TV, web and radio media, a new feature of the 2025 edition. The winner of this semi-final will be the first finalist in this category. A second duel will take place later in the evening to determine the second finalist.
Fourth night (Friday): The Covers and the New Proposals final
The fourth evening, dedicated to the ‘Covers’, will see the 30 artists reinterpret classics from the Italian and international repertoires, accompanied by a special guest. These performances will be assessed by all the juries (televoting, press/web, radio), with each vote having a specific weighting (34% televoting, 33% press/web, 33% radio). The winner of the evening will take home the prize for Best Cover.
This evening will also see the final of the ‘New Proposals’ ‘Nuoeve Proste’. The two finalists will go head-to-head to decide who will be crowned the best young talent of the 2025 edition, using the same voting system as for the covers.
Fifth night (Saturday): The grand final
Finally, Saturday evening will mark the Festival final. The 30 songs will be reinterpreted, and the votes from this final evening will be combined with those from the previous ones to establish an average percentage of votes and an overall ranking. The top five artists will be selected for a final performance, after which another round of voting will take place. The votes will be added to the previous results, and this final ranking will determine the overall winner of this 75th edition of the Sanremo Festival.
The ‘Nuoeve Proposte’ competition: a springboard for young talent
The Sanremo Festival is not just a stage for established artists, it's also a springboard for new talent thanks to the ‘Nuove Proposte’ competition. The ‘Nuove Proposte’ competition consists of two semi-finals and a final, spread over three evenings at the Sanremo Festival. This year, on Wednesday and Thursday, two young artists will perform on stage each evening in the semi-finals. Their performances will be judged according to a voting system divided between three juries: the public (televoting), the jury (press, television/web media) and the radio jury, each with a specific weighting in the final result (respectively 34% for televoting, 33% for press/web, and 33% for radio).
The two finalists will face off one last time, before the same panel of juries, using the same voting rules.
The ‘Nuove Proposte’ competition has often been the starting point for many successful careers in Italian music. The ‘Nuove Proposte’ are a real opportunity for these artists to make a name for themselves, benefiting from the audience and prestige of the Sanremo Festival.
Sanremo 2025 winner to compete at Eurovision?
In theory, yes. Tradition has it that the winner of the Sanremo Festival announces at a press conference the day after his or her victory that he or she will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest of the same year. But in practice... that hasn't always been the case. In 2012 and 2014 RAI decided to send an artist other than the festival winner, and in 2016 the group Stadio declined the offer to represent the country at the contest.
The new rules and regulations promise an exciting evening at Sanremo, which will be broadcast on RAI from 11 to 15 February 2025. This is, of course, a musical event not to be missed, not only by music fans but also by Eurofans.
