The magnificent Sanremo 2026 stage has been unveiled today in Italy.
RAI and Italy are gearing up in full steam for the upcoming Sanremo 2026 edition. Sanremo 2026 will consist of five televised shows running from 24-28 February.
RAI, the Italian national broadcaster, has unveiled the stage design for the forthcoming Sanremo 2026 edition.
The Sanremo 2026 stage has been designed by none other than Riccardo Bocchini.
Riccardo Bocchini says:
This year’s set design aims to emphasize not only the structure’s form, but a bold break from traditional geometric patterns, a marriage of asymmetry and musical magic. A set design where the asymmetry of lines becomes the preferred language for describing the expansion of space. Far from the rigidity of classical canons, the stage will play on unbalanced volumes and lines that escape in unexpected directions while maintaining a harmonious language. This choice is not purely aesthetic, but profoundly symbolic: asymmetry reflects the very nature of contemporary music: unpredictable, fluid, and never static.
Riccardo Bocchini continues to describe the stage:
The stage, insinuates itself toward the stalls and rises on one side toward the gallery and on the other across the three levels of the orchestra, eliminating the distance between the performer and the listener. Each song will be performed thanks to technological configurations that, by extending and/or compressing, will allow for changing visual perspectives.
The manipulation of the scenographic design, therefore, will be shaped through an architectural, asymmetrical “theatrical proscenium,” which will rise and extend in three bands that will envelop the stage and stalls, running through and embracing the entire theater. This sign will be recomposed in its centrality with the “entrance” of the motorized staircase. An imposing motorized curtain made of a horizontally sliding LED wall will open, revealing the staircase, which will “enter” the stage with a spectacular entrance worthy of theatrical tradition.At the center of the stage front, there will be a technological, sliding, motorized curtain with various configurations, each time modifying the type of stage front. Just like a melody that It is never a straight line, so the stage space will bend and extend to accommodate the sound, creating a dynamic harmony that will embrace the artist according to a concept of spatial expansion where the physical limit of the Ariston stage will seem to dissolve. A Stage at the service of Emotion where architecture will be placed at the service of the immaterial.
Bocchini concludes:
The goal is clear: to transform the television container into a temple of perception, merging visual representation with creative freedom. A stage in total synergy with director of photography Mario Catapano: through switching on and off, it will be able to transform from all black to all white through an interplay of scenic materials, stage lighting, and graphics; with the expert and valuable direction of Maurizio Pagnussat: many cameras inserted into the stage will move in search of new shooting angles to bring the stage to life in 360 degrees.
