Sanremo Music Festival 2024

On 24 March 2022, one month after the final of the 2022 edition, RAI officially confirmed Amadeus as the presenter of the 73rd and 74th editions of the Sanremo Music Festival,[5][6] announcing in June 2023 that this will be his last time hosting the event. On the following 9 July, Amadeus revealed that the non-competing artists on each of the second and third nights will join him on stage to introduce the competing entries.[7]

On 19 June 2023, Amadeus announced to have proposed changes in the rules of the contest, as well as in the organisation of the traditional five evening shows.[8] The complete rules were published on 10 July.

Changes will affect the number of the entries (reduced from 28 to 26), the arrangement of the five shows (with the first night being organised as the third night of previous editions), the cover performance show (which will be opened to songs from any time and place) and the jury system (as explained below).[7][9]

Voting will again occur through the combination of three methods:

• Public televoting, carried out via landline, mobile phone, the contest's official mobile app, and online voting.
• Jury of the press room, TV and web.
• Jury of the radio, detached from the second one and replacing the demoscopic jury from previous editions.

Their voting will be articulated as follows:

• First night: all of the entrants will be judged by the jury of the press room, TV and web.
• Second night: half of the entrants will be judged through a 50/50 split system by means of televoting and the jury of the radio.
• Third night: the other half of the entrants will be judged through a 50/50 split system by means of televoting and the jury of the radio.
• Fourth night: the covers will be judged through a split system by means of the televoting (34%) and the two juries (33% each). The results obtained on each evening that far will then be combined.
• Fifth night: as in previous years, the entrants will be judged by televoting alone, to be added up to the results obtained that far; ultimately, a final voting round (again a sum of televoting and the two juries) will be held among the top five, which will determine the winner.[9]

For the third time in a row, the Newcomers' section will not be included in the Festival, with the Sanremo Giovani selection directly decreeing three places reserved in the Big Artists' section. The twelve artists competing in the format will be selected through two separate contests: standard section and Area Sanremo.[10]

Online submissions for the standard selection were open between 15 June and 19 October 2023. On 27 October 2023, it was announced that 564 acts had applied, 49 of which were selected at a listening session by a musical committee – composed of Federica Lentini, Massimo Martelli and Leonardo De Amicis and chaired by the artistic director (Amadeus) – to proceed to a live audition. There, total of eight Sanremo Giovani finalists will be selected.[10][11][12]

The rules of Area Sanremo were released on 10 October 2023, with the opening of an online application platform lasting until 30 October 2023. Artists aged between 16 and 30 are eligible to compete. The musical committee, still headed by the artistic director (Amadeus), will review the entries and select a total of four Sanremo Giovani finalists at an audition round held on 25 and 26 November at the Sanremo Palafiori.[13][14]

The final of Sanremo Giovani is set to be held on 13 December 2023 at the Sanremo Casino Theatre, presented by Amadeus and broadcast on Rai 1.[11][15] The ranking will be determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from the musical committee and the artistic director (Amadeus); the resulting top three artists will be selected to compete in the Big Artists' section.[10][15][16]

All of the competing artists will perform their songs.[7]

Thirteen of the competing artists will perform their songs.[7]

The remaining thirteen competing artists will perform their songs.[7]

The artists will each perform a cover of an Italian or international song from the past, duetting with a guest performer.[7]

All of the artists will perform their songs one final time, with the top five reprising their performances before moving on to the final round of voting.[7]

Rai 1 and Rai Radio 2 will bring the official broadcasts of the festival in Italy. The five evenings will also be streamed online via the broadcaster's official website RaiPlay, which makes it available in all member countries of the European Broadcasting Union, since the festival, serving as the Italian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, is broadcast on the Eurovision network.