Stefano De Martino immediately laid out his cards: 24 artists, no rush to expand the cast, three competitions with different rules, an audience vote from the opening night, an international jury for the performance that will award the Eurovision pass, and a crackdown on artificial intelligence. For the first time in the Festival's history, the rules were presented at a dedicated press conference from the RAI studios on Via Mecenate in Milan.
The first key point for Sanremo 2027, airing February 16-20, is the number of artists: there will be 24, no exceptions. Twenty-three chosen by the artistic director and one from "Sarà Sanremo" 2026. "I'm telling you right now that there will still be 24," De Martino specifies, "despite anyone who tells me 'but you'll see, it'll expand later.' No, because this system is designed specifically to accommodate, to provide space for 24 artists, otherwise we won't have enough time for everyone."
On Tuesday, February 16th, and Wednesday, the 17th, the artists will perform their unreleased songs, voted on respectively by the Press Room, TV, and Web channels along with the People's Jury, and then by the Radio stations along with the People's Jury. Thursday will be dedicated to Covers, which will have no bearing on the final rankings: artists may bring a guest, but it is not mandatory. The three juries will vote there, as they did on Saturday. Friday will be the turn of the "Performance Evening," in which the 24 artists will perform their songs with different performance and staging styles. The winner will be chosen by Rai to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2027.
The home audience will therefore be involved immediately: "We'll start having people vote at home right away to add some diversity to the vote, to see what the sentiment is among those watching at home," De Martino explained. "We all know that from the next day, in real life, it's the audience that determines the success of artists and songs, so it's simply a matter of immediately taking a look at what the charts tell us the next day." Online voting will also be implemented for the first time, alongside traditional televoting.
On Friday, another new development: a new international jury will be introduced. " Like Eurovision, we'll be selecting entertainment and showbiz experts, including choreographers, music producers, and people who work in this field in Europe ." Their vote will count for 50%, with the other half being cast by the public.
The finale on Saturday, February 20th, will maintain the progressive voting system: the results of the fifth evening (with the three juries again voting) will be added to those of the first two to determine an overall ranking. The top three and five judges will advance to the final round, where only the public will vote. The results of this final vote, along with the overall results from the previous evenings, will count 50% of the total.
Other new features include strict controls on the use of artificial intelligence: "The songs," the regulations state, "must be an expression of human creativity. Therefore, artificial intelligence systems or tools cannot be used—in their conception, in the composition of music and lyrics, or in their production—if such use would replace, alter, or distort the human creative contribution that is an essential characteristic of the participating songs." "The leitmotif of this festival is artisanal intelligence," De Martino states. "Humanity is at the center. Everyone is warned; AI tricks will not be allowed." And how will these controls be implemented? "We will provide software and experts; it will be complex, but there is great attention to this. The time it takes someone to write a piece is the true added value of the work."
And autotune? No absolute ban, but an evaluation based on the artistic project. "It wouldn't be contemporary if we essentially banned trap or rap from competing. No to an artist who claims to sing like Celine Dion and does it with autotune, but if the genre, if the nature of the project requires autotune, then that's fine. Let's remember that it's a song contest, not a singing contest ."
The stated goal is to capture today's Italian music, without constructing a festival based on categories. "Everyone is involved, no preclusions, and there's no idea of creating a generational Sanremo." And regarding the presence of women in the cast, De Martino cuts to the chase: "I've never liked the idea of quotas, it's boring. We have so many talented women, but the songs are the ones who rule." The rules set November 29th as the first date for the lineup to be announced.
The potential elections remain in the background. "A pre-election Sanremo? If so, we'll guarantee equal opportunities. And then, without further ado, what kind of Sanremo is this?"