The Italian broadcaster RAI has released the full set of rules regarding the submission and participation in Sanremo 2016. It will be the 66th edition of the festival and will run between 9-13 February 2016. The winner will be eligible to represent Italy in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.

As in every year, there will be two different groups of participants – the Campioni group – with 18 estanlished Italian artists, and the Nuove Proposte group – with 8 newcomers. The competition, held during five consecutive nights, will go as the following:

Night 1, 9 February:

• Campioni: Nine artists will perform their original songs for the first time.

Night 2, 10 February:

• Campioni: Nine artists will perform their original songs for the first time.
• Nuove Proposte: Four artists will compete in duels, the winner of each will qualify to the semi-finals on Night 4.

Night 3, 11 February:

• Campioni: All 18 artists will perform covers of Italian hits. The winner of this night will be awarded a prize
• Nuove Proposte: Four artists will compete in duels, the winner of each will qualify to the semi-finals on Night 4.

Night 4, 12 February:

• Campioni: All 18 artists will perform their original songs for the second time. The votes from nights 1+2 will be added to the votes of this evening and the top 13 will qualify to the final night. A second round of voting will be held between the bottom five to give one a wildcard to the final night.
• Nuove Proposte: The semi-finals with four artists will be held. They will compete in duels with the winner qualifying to the final duel. The winner of the group will be announced.

Night 5, 13 February:

•  Campioni: The wildcard will be announced. The votes from previous nights will be cleared and the 14 finalists will perform their original songs. The top 3 will qualify to the superfinal round. The votes will be cleared once again and the winner of Sanremo 2016 will be announced.

The voting process during the first three nights will be made of Televoting (50%), and the Jury of the Press (50%), which will be made of accredited journalists in Sanremo 2016 that will vote directly from the Ariston Theatre in Rome, where the contest will be held. During the final two nights, an expert jury, made of 300 personalities from the worlds of music, entertainment and culture, will vote individuall by casting votes from home via an electronic voting system. The division of votes then will be 40% Televoting and 30% for each jury group.

Thanks to Il Volo‘s success in this year’s contest with Grande amore, the Italian broadcaster has decided to broadcast the upcoming contest on Rai 1, the network’s main channel. Will Sanremo 2016 give us the winner of the next Eurovision Song Contest?

 Stay tuned to ESCToday.com for the latest updates regarding Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.