Watch: Tonight at 20:40 CET, the third of five nights of “Festival Di Sanremo 2026”, will take place. Link to watch the live broadcast – Below!
Tonight, the long-running and much-loved music festival “Festival Di Sanremo 2026” will enter it’s third day, serving as Italy’s selection process for Eurovision. The show this evening will be the third of five nights, taking place between February 24th and 28th, 2026, at the end of which Italy’s entry for Eurovision 2026, in Vienna, Austria, will be chosen. All shows will take place at the “Ariston” Theatre (Teatro Ariston), which has hosted the festival regularly since 1977 (with the exception of 1990, when it was held at the “Nuovo Mercato Dei Fiori” hall).
The third night’s broadcast will begin at 20:40 and continue until 01:10 CET.
To watch the third night of “Festival Di Sanremo 2026” – click here!
Third Night: Running Order
- Maria Antonietta & Colombre – “La felicità e basta“
- Leo Gassmann – “Naturale“
- Malika Ayane – “Animali notturni“
- Sal Da Vinci – “Per sempre sì“
- Tredici Pietro – “Uomo che cade“
- Raf – “Ora e per sempre“
- Francesco Renga – “Il meglio di me“
- Eddie Brock – “Avvoltoi“
- Serena Brancale – “Qui con me“
- Samurai Jay – “Ossessione“
- Arisa – “Magica favola“
- Michele Bravi – “Prima o poi“
- Luchè – “Labirinto“
- Mara Sattei – “Le cose che non sai di me“
- Sayf – “Tu mi piaci tanto”
Among the Contestants Are Many Familiar Names:
- Serena Brancale (36) – Participated “Festival Di Sanremo 2025” with her song “Anema e cuore” (in English: “Soul and Heart”) and finished in 24th place.
- Leo Gassman (27) – First competed in “Festival Di Sanremo” in the newcomers’ category in 2020 and won it with his song “Vai bene così” (in English: “You’re Fine Like That”). He returned to compete again in 2023 with the song “Terzo cuore” (in English: “Third Heart”), finishing in 18th place.
- Arisa (43) – First participated in “Festival Di Sanremo 2009” in the newcomers’ category and won the Mia Martini Critics’ Award for her song “Sincerità” (in English: “Sincerity”). She returned to”Festival Di Sanremo” in 2012 and finished second with her song “La notte” (in English: “The Night”). She also won “Festival Di Sanremo 2014” with her song “Controvento” (in English: “Against the Wind”), but that year a committee chose another participant in the festival, Emma Marrone, to represent Italy at Eurovision.
- Sal Da Vinci – Participated in “Festival Di Sanremo 2009” with the song “Non riesco a farti innamorare” (in English: “I Can’t Make You Fall in Love”) and finished in seventh place.
- Samurai Jay (27) – Rapper who participated as a guest artist in “Festival Di Sanremo 2021”.
- Malika Ayane – Competed in the newcomers’ category in 2009, then in 2010 with the song “Ricomincio da qui” (in English: “I’ll Start Again from Here”), in 2013 with the song “E se poi” (in English: “And If Then”), which finished in fourth place, in 2015 with the song “Adesso e qui (nostalgico presente)” (in English: “Now and Here – (Nostalgic Present)”), finishing in third place, and in 2021 with the song “Ti piaci così” (in English: “You Like Yourself Like That”), which placed 15th.
- Raf (66) – Represented Italy at Eurovision in 1987 together with Umberto Tozzi with the song “Gente di mare” (in English: “People of the Sea”), which finished in third place and became a hit across the continent. Three years earlier he had already had an international hit, “Self Control“, which also achieved success in the cover version by American singer Laura Branigan. Raf competed at Sanremo four more times, most recently in 2015, but did not manage to repeat that success.
- Michele Bravi – Competed at “Festival Di Sanremo 2017” with the song “Il diario degli errori” (in English: “Diary of Mistakes”), finishing fourth, and in 2022 with the song “Inverno dei fiori” (in English: “Winter of Flowers”), finishing in 10th place.
- Maria Antonietta & Colombre – Maria Antonietta participated as a guest singer at “Festival Di Sanremo 2020”. Colombre (43) is performing alongside Antonietta for the first time in the festival.
- Francesco Renga – Competed at “Festival Di Sanremo 1991” in the newcomers’ category. He returned again in 2001 and 2002 and won first place at “Festival Di Sanremo 2005” with the song “Angelo” (in English: “Angel”). Francesco returned to “Festival Di Sanremo” in 2009, 2012, and 2014.
- Mara Sattei – Competed at “Festival Di Sanremo 2023” with the song “Duemilaminuti” (in English: “Two Thousand Minutes”), which finished 19th.
How Will the Third Evening Unfold?
“Festival Di Sanremo 2026” will be hosted for the last time by artistic director Carlo Conti, who was chosen after the departure of Amadeus. Conti has previous experience hosting the festival in 2015–2017. Co-hosting the festival with him will be Eurovision 2022 host Laura Pausini. Each night, additional hosts will join the pair. Tonight, Each evening, additional hosts join the main pair. Tonight, the duo will be accompanied by Italian comedian and actor Ubaldo Pantani and model Irina Shayk. Tonight, the other half of the songs competing in the festival, 15 songs will be performed. The results will be determined by combining the audience’s vote (50%) with the vote of a jury composed of radio broadcasters (50%). Afterwards, the top five songs will be announced, in random order.
What Will Happen in the Rest of the Festival?
On the fourth evening, each artist will perform a cover version of an existing song in Italian, English, or any other language. Competing artists will have the opportunity to perform their cover with a guest artist. The performances will be judged by the audience at home (34%), a professional jury composed of journalists (33%), and a professional jury of radio broadcasters (33%). The results from this evening will not be added to the overall score.
On the final evening, the festival’s grand finale, which will take place on Saturday, February 28th, all 30 artists will perform their competing songs again. Only the audience at home will vote during this round. The results from this evening’s audience votes will be combined with the scores from previous evenings to determine which five artists advance to the final round (Superfinal). In this final round, the top five songs will be performed again and judged by a combination of audience votes (34%), a professional jury composed of journalists (33%), and a professional jury of radio broadcasters (33%). The song receiving the highest number of votes will be declared the winner of “Festival Di Sanremo 2026”.
“Festival Di Sanremo 2026”: Key Dates
First night – Tuesday, February 24th, 2026.Second night – Wednesday, February 25th, 2026.- Third night – Thursday, February 26th, 2026.
- Fourth night – Friday, February 27th, 2026.
- Grand final – Saturday, February 28th, 2026.
Italy at Eurovision 2025
“Volevo essere un duro” (in English: “I Wanted to Be Tough”) is the song performed by singer Lucio Corsi, which came second at the 75th edition of the Sanremo Festival. The song was written by the singer himself along with Tommaso Ottomano. This was the singer’s first-ever appearance at the festival. The song is performed in Italian. The song finished fifth in the grand final with 256 points.
Italy returns to the Eurovision Grand Final Top 5 after last year achieving “only” seventh place.
Eurovision 2026: This will be Italy’s 51st participation in Eurovision. Italy joined the contest in 1956, was one of the seven founding countries, and has won three times over the years. Italy’s most recent victory was at Eurovision 2021 with the song “Zitti e buoni” performed by the band Måneskin.
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Ilay Gaist is a leading Israeli content creator and writer specializing in the Eurovision Song Contest. He is a well-known commentator with extensive expertise in the contest’s history, rules, and dynamics. His passion for Eurovision drives him to deliver rich, professional, and innovative content to his audience.
Ilay holds a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and has a multilingual background. He also engages in cultural research, with a particular focus on global culinary traditions and the evolution of local cuisines around the world.
