Italian band Stadio won the 66th Sanremo Song Festival tonight, but will not represent Italy at the  forthcoming 2016 Eurovision Song Contest next May.

Stadio have decided not to accept the invitation to represent Italy at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest. They won the Italian contest with their entry Un giorno mi dirai. RAI will announce the name of the 2016 Italian act in due course.

#Sanremo2016 Congratulation Stadio! Stadio won’t take advantage of the opportunity to represent Italy in the next #Eurovision Song Contest.

— Eurovision Rai (@EurovisionRai) febrero 14, 2016

A total of 16 acts battled tonight at the 2016 Sanremo Song Festival Campioni category. The show was held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Italy.

The results

1. Stadio – Un giorno mi dirai
2. Francesca Michielin – Nessun grado di separazione
3. Giovanni Caccamo & Deborah Iurato – Via da qui
4. Enrico Ruggeri – Il primo amore non si scorda mai
5. Lorenzo Fragola – Infinite volte
6. Patty Pravo – Cieli immensi
7. Clementino – Quando sono lontano
8. Noemi – La borsa di una donna
9. Rocco Hunt – Wake Up
10. Arisa – Guardando il cielo
11. Annalisa – Il diluvio universale
12. Elio e le Storie Tese – Vincere l’odio
13. Valerio Scanu – Finalmente piove
14. Alessio Bernabei – Noi siamo infinito
15. Dolcenera – Ora o mai più (le cose cambiano)
16. Irene Fornaciari – Blu

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

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 in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti and in 1990 with Toto Cotugno.

Stay tuned to ESCToday for the latest news on Italy and the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.