It is the turn of Italy to announce details concerning the Festival of Sanremo 2018. Italian broadcaster RAI organised a press conference to reveal some juicy news about the upcoming edition of the festival. Fasten your seat belts!

Italian broadcaster RAI organised a press conference to reveal some important news about the upcoming edition of the Festival of Sanremo. Here they are.

The hosts

Let’s procede in order. Famous Italian singer Claudio Baglioni was announced as artistic director of the 2018 edition of Sanremo. Moreover, the two hosts of the festival will be Michelle Hunziker and Pierfrancesco Favino.

Hunziker is a Swiss-Dutch TV hostess. She reached success hosting several TV shows in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. She already co-hosted Sanremo in 2007 with Pippo Baudo.

Favino is an actor at his very first experience conducting a show.

The songs

Unlike the recent past, the song will last up to four minutes. This is of particular relevance as the winner of Sanremo will have the potential honour of representinf the country at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, where the songs have a limited time of three minutes.

The festival

Five nights. Twenty Campioni. Eight Nuove Proposte. Here is the complete programme:

• 06/02: 20 Campioni
• 07/02: 10 Campioni + 4 Nuove Proposte
• 08/02: 10 Campioni + 4 Nuove Proposte
• 09/02: 20 Campioni with rearranged songs, final of Nuove Proposte
• 10/02: Final. Announcement of the winner among the 20 Campioni

The winner among the Campioni will be given the opportunity to become the representative of Italy at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. You can review the selected artists here: