Lights are about to go on one last time at Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Italy. The 74th edition of the Sanremo Festival will deliver another winner to the Hall of Fame of the Italian music industry. Will it be a woman for the first time since 2014, or will it be a song in an Italian dialect for the very first time? Whatever the outcome of the night will be, this Sanremo Festival will be one to remember.

They were 30 at the beginning of the competition last Tuesday, they are still 30 for its conclusion tonight. Many things have happened during the last 4 days at Teatro Ariston and the competition is more alive than ever.

Live from Sanremo Amadeus and his co-host Fiorello are ready to take us through 6.5 hours of live television. A long show indeed, so if you are unsure about watching Sanremo tonight, these are a few suggestions of what you can do in the same amount of time instead:

• Drive from Malmö to Stockholm
• Watch season 10 of Friends, all 18 episodes
• Watch the semi final of Wimbledon 2018 between Kevin Anderson and John Isner, the 4^th longest tennis match of all times
• Fly from Helsinki to Gran Canaria
• Run a full marathon, then a half marathon
• Visit the Louvre twice with a break in between (average length of a standard visit = 3 hours)

Tonight’s running order

However, if you are still one of those who will watch the entire show, this is the line up:

1. Renga e Nek – Pazzo di te
2. BigMama – La rabbia non ti basta
3. Gazzelle – Tutto qui
4. Dargen D’Amico – Onda alta
5. Il Volo – Capolavoro
6. Loredana Bertè – Pazza
7. Negramaro – Ricominciamo tutto
8. Mahmood – Tuta gold
9. Santi Francesi – L’amore in bocca
10. Diodato – Ti muovi
11. Fiorella Mannoia – Mariposa
12. Alessandra Amoroso – Fino a qui
13. Alfa – Vai!
14. Irama – Tu no
15. Ghali – Casa mia
16. Annalisa – Sinceramente
17. Angelina Mango – La noia
18. Geolier – I p’ me, tu p’ te
19. Emma – Apnea
20. Il Tre – Fragili
21. Ricchi e poveri – Ma non tutta la vita
22. The Kolors – Un ragazzo una ragazza
23. Maninni – Spettacolare
24. La Sad – Autodistruttivo
25. Mr. Rain – Due altalene
26. Fred De Palma – Il cielo non ci vuole
27. Sangiovanni – Finiscimi
28. Clara – Diamanti grezzi
29. Bnkr44 – Governo punk
30. Rose Villain – Click boom!

What to expect from the final night

The list includes some former Eurovision entrants such as Ricchi e Poveri (1978), Emma (2014), Il Volo (2015), Mahmood (2019, 2022) and Diodato (2020). Will any of them come back to Europe’s most beloved contest?

The last four shows indicate a possible runoff race between Geolier and Angelina Mango, with Annalisa and Ghali surging as possible strong contenders. Early week favourites Loredana Bertè, Mahmood and Diodato have on the contrary experienced a downwards spiral and would need a very strong finish in order to be in the top 5 of the Grand Final. However, this year the competition appears more open than recent editions and surprises cannot and must not be excluded.

Even if the detailed results of the votes have not been released, Geolier is expected to surf the wave of the televote, while no clear winner is emerging from the juries, whose votes could be split among a few entries, notably Angelina Mango and Annalisa.

Special guests are ballet dancer Roberto Bolle and former Eurovision winner Gigliola Cinquetti (Non ho l’età, 1964) who will celebrate 60 years of her combined Sanremo-Eurovision victories.

A show for the History

Among the many reasons to watch the final night of Sanremo 2024 there is of course also the fact that it will be the last show (for now) of Amadeus, host for the last five editions. If you have followed this intense musical week for Italy you may have noticed that female singers have come to the forefront of the competition and are more than ready to take the trophy. The last woman to win Sanremo was Arisa in 2014 with Controvento. However, tonight might also crown for the very first time in its history an entry (partially) in dialect. The rapper from Naples Geolier has come first twice this week, notably last night when he won the covers night.

Language diversity has long been a taboo at Sanremo. In was only in 2009 after 60 years that Italian dialects were allowed on stage. Entries in any regional or local dialect have however been very few in 15 years. Tonight they could get revenge as one of them is among the hot favourites to win.

The winner takes it (almost) all

Tonight’s votes will come from the televote only. However, the final ranking will take into accounts all votes expressed so far during the week. All results will then be set back to zero and the top 5 will start a completely new competition among them. They will perform once more to determine the ultimate winner of the 2024 Sanremo Festival. It will be the combined deliberation of the radio jury (33%), the press jury (33%) and the televote (34%)

According to the schedule Amadeus will proclaim the winner close to 03:00 CET. Together with the winner of Sanremo a few more awards will be attributed, such as: the critics award “Mia Martini“, the press award “Lucia Dalla“, the “Sergio Bardotti” award to the best lyrics and the “Giancarlo Bigazzi” award to the best musical competition.

Finally, the winner of the 74th Sanremo Festival will be given the honour to represent the Belpaese at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. Italy will take part to the Grand Final on Saturday 11 May 2024. Last year Marco Mengoni won Sanremo 2023 and represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, placing 4th overall with his Due vite.

How to watch

The final night of Sanremo 2024 will start at 20:40 CET. Eurofans can watch it on the following channels:

• Rai 1
• RaiPlay.it

Who is your favourite to win Sanremo 2024?
Let us know with a comment below