Prior to the 2026 contest, Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Italy forty-nine times since its first entry at the inaugural contest in 1956.[1] Since then, it has won the contest on three occasions: in 1964 with the song "Non ho l'età" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti, in 1990 with "Insieme: 1992" by Toto Cutugno, and in 2021 with "Zitti e buoni" by Måneskin. RAI has withdrawn from the contest a number of times, with its most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. It made its return in 2011, with its entry "Madness of Love" performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placing second — its highest result, to that point, since its victory in 1990. A number of top 10 placements followed in subsequent editions, including its third victory in 2021. In 2025, it placed fifth with "Volevo essere un duro" performed by Lucio Corsi.[1]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RAI organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Almost every year since 2011, RAI has regularly used the Sanremo Music Festival to select its entrant to the contest, at first through an intermediate stage of internal selection among the contestants, and after 2014 (when a full internal selection took place), the winner of the festival has always earned the right of first refusal to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The final took place on 28 February 2026. After performing across four nights, all 30 of the artists will perform their songs one final time. The results from the public televoting (34%), radio jury voting (33%), and press jury voting (33%) will be summed up to the results obtained in the previous nights to determine the five qualifiers for the superfinal round.[4]
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Italy