RAI, the Italian national broadcaster has announced that it will be revealing the names of the 2016 Sanremo Song Festival competing acts on Sunday 13 December during L’Arena di Massimo Giletti show aired on Rai 1.

A total of 20 acts will battle for the grand prix at the 2016 Sanremo Song Festival in the Campioni category. The names of the competing acts will be revealed on Sunday by Carlo Conti, the artistic director of the competition during L’Arena show aired on Rai 1 at 14:00 CET.

The 2016 Sanremo Song Festival will run from 9-13 February, with the grand final of the competition scheduled to be held on Saturday 13 February at the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo.

Th winner of the 2016 Sanremo Song Festival will be eligible to represent Italy at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden.

The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 10, 12 and 14 May at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

In 2015 the winners of the 2015 Sanremo Song Festival, Il Volo were awarded the golden ticket to fly the Italian flag at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. They made their country proud with their entry Grande Amore, achieving an honorable 3rd place in the grand final.

Italy is one of the founder members of the Eurovision Song Contest having debuted in the very first contest in 1956. The country has won the competition twice (1964, 1990) and successfully hosted the hosted on home soil in 1965 in Naples and in 1991 in Rome.

Stay tuned to ESCToday for the latest news on Italy, the 2016 Festival di Sanremo, 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.