It’s the start of the grand Italian event this evening as the first night of the Sanremo Music Festival 2017 takes place live from the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo.

Tonight sees the start of the Campioni section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2017, the winner of whom will be offered the right to represent Italy at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest this coming May.

How to watch

Night 1 of Sanremo 2017 will air from 20:35 CET on the following channels:

• Rai 1
• Rai Radio 2
• Live webcast via rai.it

Tonight’s show will run for almost 4 hours, finishing at 00:30 CET.

Tonight’s show

Sanremo 2017 kicks off tonight with the Campioni section of the competition, in which the first 11 acts of the event will perform their entries publicly for the first time.

A mixed system consisting of a combined public televote and press jury vote will help to determine which 8 acts will qualify directly to the fourth night of the event; the remaining 3 songs will be performed once again in the elimination round of the festival on the third night.

First 11 Campioni acts

• Al Bano – Di rose e di spine
• Alessio Bernabei – Nel mezzo di un applauso
• Clementino – Ragazzi fuori
• Elodie – Tutta colpa mia
• Ermal Meta – Vietato morire
• Fabrizio Moro – Portami via
• Fiorella Mannoia – Che sia benedetta
• Giusy Ferreri – Fa talmente male
• Lodovica Comello – Il cielo non mi basta
• Ron – L’ottava meraviglia
• Samuel Umberto Romano – Vedrai

Special guests

Throughout the entire festival, a number of special guests have been invited to perform at the grand Italian event over the course of the week.

Musical appearances in tonight’s show includes performances national stars Tiziano Ferro and Carmen Consoli, with international performances from Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin alongside British electronic-trio Clean Bandit.

Raoul Bova, Rocio Muñoz Morales, Paola Cortellesi, Antonio Albanese, Diletta Leotta, Marco Cusin and Valentina Diouf will each recite a speech on the stage during the festival.

Sanremo 2017 will also feature comedic performances over the 5 nights, each of which will be provided by Maurizio Crozz and Rocco Tanica.

Sanremo Music Festival 2017

Italy’s biggest music festival, Sanremo, is back for the 67th edition of the grand event with the 2 categories making their return to the event once again; Campioni contest and Nuove Proposte contest.

The Campioni event will run throughout the whole 5 days of the festival, the winner of whom will be offered the chance to represent Italy at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. If the Sanremo 2017 declines, RAI will go on to internally select another artist and song to compete at the event.

Meanwhile, the Nuove Proposte will run mid-festival over the course of 3 nights, the winner of which will be determined on night 4.

You can check out our full guide of the next 5 nights of the Sanremo Music Festival for a more in-depth look at the upcoming event.

07/02: Night 1

• First 11 Campioni acts perform; 8 acts qualify to night 4, 3 acts compete again in elimination round on night 3.

08/02: Night 2

• Last 11 Campioni acts perform; 8 acts qualify to night 4, 3 acts compete again in elimination round on night 3.
• First 4 Nuove Proposte acts perform; 2 qualify to night 4.

09/02: Night 3

• 16 Campioni qualifiers will perform a cover version of a national hit, whilst remaining 6 acts will compete in the elimination round; 4 will qualify to night 4 and will join the 16 qualifiers from night 1 and 2.
• Last 4 Nuove Proposte acts perform, 2 qualify to night 4.

10/02: Night 4

• 20 Campioni acts perform again; 16 acts will qualify to night 5.
• Nuove Proposte finalists perform again; winner is determined.

11/02: Night 5

• 16 finalists will perform again, top 3 will qualify to super-final where the votes will be reset; winner decided and offered Eurovision participation.