The Sanremo Music Festival 2016 (), officially the 66th Italian Song Festival (), was the 66th annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, between 9 and 13 February 2016, organised and broadcast by Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). The show was presented by Carlo Conti, who also served as the artistic director for the competition, together with Virginia Raffaele, Mădălina Diana Ghenea and Gabriel Garko. The program was written by Carlo Conti, Ivana Sabatini, Emanuele Giovannini, Leopoldo Siano, Giona Peduzzi, Riccardo Cassini, Martino Clericetti and Mario D'Amico.
The Campioni or Big Artists section included 20 established Italian artists, competing with a song each, while 8 artists and songs competed in the Nuove proposte or Newcomers' section. The final for the Newcomers' section took place on 12 February 2016 where "Amen" performed by Francesco Gabbani was selected as the winner. The final for the Big Artists section took place on 13 February 2016 where "Un giorno mi dirai" performed by Stadio was selected as the winner. As the winners of the main section, Stadio also won the right to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016; however, RAI confirmed after the competition that Stadio decided not to participate in the contest, with runner-up Francesca Michielin and "Nessun grado di separazione" being selected by RAI as the Italian Eurovision entrant.
Format The 2016 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival took place at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, organised by the Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). The artistic director for the competition was Carlo Conti, who was appointed to the position for a second consecutive year. The competition took place over five evenings between 9–13 February 2016. The selected artists competed during the festival under two different sections: Campioni/Big Artists and Nuove Proposte/Newcomers' . Twenty songs competed in the Big Artists section and eight songs competed in the Newcomers' section; both competitive sections ran concurrently with each other over the five evenings. All songs in the competition were required to be new compositions performed in the Italian language with some exceptions for words and phrases in other dialects/languages. The songs were performed in the competition live and accompanied by an orchestra.
The twenty entries competing in the Big Artists section were presented during the first and second evenings on 9 and 10 February. Ten songs were performed during each evening and were voted upon by a press jury (50%) and public televote (50%) with no eliminations occurring during either evening. All twenty songs advanced to the fourth evening, the semi-final, and faced an additional vote consisting of public televoting (40%), an expert jury (30%) and an demoscopic poll (30%). The weighted average of the votes from the first and second evenings as well as the votes from the fourth evening produced a total ranking of all of the songs. Based on this ranking, the top fifteen entries qualified to the final on the fifth evening on 13 February. The bottom five entries from the fourth evening entered a repechage round and faced an additional public televote to determine the one entry that would be readmitted to compete in the final; the other four entries were eliminated. In the final, sixteen songs competed and the top three advanced to a second round of voting in order to select the winner. The results of both rounds of voting were determined by public televoting (40%), an expert jury (30%) and an demoscopic poll (30%). An additional competition among the performers competing in the Big Artists section occurred during the third evening where each act performed a cover of an Italian song or an international hit translated into Italian. The best cover, as determined by the equal combination of votes from a press jury and a public televote, was awarded with a prize.
The eight entries competing in the Newcomers' section were divided into four semi-final duels consisting of two songs each. Two duels took place during both the second and third evenings on 10 and 11 February. The winner of each duel, as determined by the equal combination of votes from a press jury and a public televote, advanced to the final held during the fourth evening on 12 February. During the final, the four entries competed and the winner was determined via the combination of a public televote (40%), an expert jury (30%) and an demoscopic poll (30%).
Voting Voting during the five evenings occurred through different combinations of the following methods: Public televoting – carried out via landline, mobile phone, app and/or online voting. Press jury – composed of accredited journalists that followed the competition from the Roof Hall at the Teatro Ariston. Demoscopic poll – composed of a sample of 300 music fans, which voted from their homes via an electronic voting system managed by Ipsos. Expert jury – eight personalities from the world of music, entertainment and culture consisting of: Franz Di Cioccio (Chairman) – Musician, actor and journalist Laura Valente – Singer and musician Fausto Brizzi – Screenwriter, producer and film director Nicoletta Mantovani – Commissioner for cooperation and international relations for Florence; widow of opera singer Luciano Pavarotti Massimiliano Pani – Songwriter, producer and composer Valentina Correani – Television presenter and actress Paola Maugeri – Journalist, singer and television presenter Federico l'Olandese Volante – Radio presenter, record producer and television personality
Presenters Television presenter Carlo Conti, who was also the competition's artistic director, hosted Sanremo for a second consecutive year. Conti was joined by three additional hosts: actress and comic Virginia Raffaele, Romanian actress and model Mădălina Diana Ghenea and actor Gabriel Garko. Raffaele presented the first four evenings of the competition impersonating different female celebrities: actress Sabrina Ferilli (first evening), ballet dancer and actress Carla Fracci (second evening), fashion designer Donatella Versace (third evening) and actress, model and previous Sanremo host Belén Rodríguez (fourth evening).
Selections Decisions related to the selection of artists and compositions were taken by Carlo Conti in collaboration with a music committee under the direction of Rai 1. The members of the music committee consisted of Piero Chiambretti (presenter/showman), Rosita Celentano (presenter/singer/actress), Giovanni Allevi (musician), Federico Russo (presenter), Carolina Di Domenico (VJ) and Andrea Delogu (presenter).
Newcomers' section Artists that were interested in competing in the Newcomers' section could apply to one of two different qualifiers: #SG – Sanremo Giovani and Area Sanremo. The eight artists competing in the Newcomers' section were revealed on 27 November 2015. Six of the eight artists were selected through the programme #SG – Sanremo Giovani, which aired on Rai 1 and was hosted by Carlo Conti. 655 applications were initially received from which twelve artists were selected to proceed to the televised programme. The six artists were selected by the festival's artistic director Carlo Conti together with the competition's music committee.
Two of the eight artists, Mahmood and Miele, were selected though the competition Area Sanremo, which was a separate qualifier for the Newcomers''' section that included artists auditioning in October 2015 and being shortlisted to eight finalists before two were selected to proceed to Sanremo 2016.
Big Artists section Artists competing in the Big Artists section were selected based on criteria such as the quality and originality of the songs, interpretation, contemporaneity and the fame and recognized value of the performer(s). Artists interested in competing in the Big Artists section were required to submit their proposals to RAI by 11 December 2015. The names of the twenty participants competing in the Big Artists section were announced by Carlo Conti on 13 December 2015 during the Rai 1 programme L'Arena, hosted by Massimo Giletti.
Competing entries +Competing songs and artists, showing writers, orchestra conductor and results achievedBig Artists section Song Artist(s) Songwriter(s) Orchestra conductor Rank Sanremo Music Festival Awards "" Stadio Beppe D'Onghia1 Winner of the "Big Artists" section - Golden Lion Press, Radio, TV & Web Award "Lucio Dalla" "Giancarlo Bigazzi" Award for Best Arrangement "" Francesca Michielin Peppe VessicchioRoberto RossiOnly in the 3rd night.2 "" Giovanni Caccamo & Deborah Iurato Giuliano SangiorgiDaniele Parziani3 "" Enrico Ruggeri Enrico RuggeriRoberto Rossi4 "" Lorenzo Fragola Roberto Rossi5 "" Patty Pravo Fortunato ZampaglionePeppe Vessicchio6 Critics' Award "Mia Martini" "" Clementino Enzo Campagnoli7 "" Noemi Roberto Rossi8 "" Rocco Hunt Roberto Rossi9 "" Arisa Giuseppe AnastasiGiuseppe BarberaNicolò Fragile10 "" Annalisa Diego Calvetti11 "" Elio e le Storie Tese Peppe VessicchioVittorio Cosma12 "" Valerio Scanu Fabrizio MoroPeppe Vessicchio13 "" Alessio Bernabei Umberto Iervolino14 "" Dolcenera Enzo Campagnoli15 "" Irene Fornaciari Diego Calvetti16 "" Zero Assoluto Adriano Penninostyle="text-align:center;" "" Bluvertigo Marco "Morgan" CastoldiCarlo Carcanostyle="text-align:center;" "" Neffa Peppe Vessicchiostyle="text-align:center;" "" Dear Jack Diego Calvettistyle="text-align:center;" Newcomers' section Song Artist(s) Songwriter(s) Orchestra conductor Rank Sanremo Music Festival Awards "" Francesco Gabbani Vince Tempera1 Winner of the Newcomers' section - Silver Lion Critics' Award "Mia Martini" "Sergio Bardotti" Award for Best Lyrics "Emanuele Luzzati" Award "" Chiara Dello Iacovo Chiara Dello IacovoMassimo Morini2 Press, Radio, TV & Web Award "Lucio Dalla" "Assomusica" Award for Best Performance "" Ermal Meta Ermal MetaMassimo Morini3 "" Mahmood Alessandro "Mahmood" MahmoudAndrea Rodini4 "" Cecile Lorenzo Lombardi Dallamanostyle="text-align:center;" "" Irama Giulio Nennastyle="text-align:center;" "" Michael Leonardi Daniele Parzianistyle="text-align:center;" "" Miele Manuela "Miele" Paruzzo, Andrea RodiniMassimo Zanottistyle="text-align:center;"
Shows
First evening The first evening on 9 February featured ten of the twenty acts competing in the Big Artists section presenting their songs. The bottom four entries at risk of elimination were revealed in alphabetical order. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers included Laura Pausini, Elton John and Maître Gims. Other guests for the show included the comedy trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, athlete Giuseppe Ottaviani and actresses Kasia Smutniak and Anna Foglietta.
All results during the first evening were determined by the combination of public voting (50%) and the votes from the press jury (50%). While none of the entries competing in the Big Artists section were eliminated during this evening, the results were part of an overall ranking compiled from the scores each entry receives during the first and second evenings and accounted for 50% of the results during the fourth evening.Big Artists Artist Song Votes Place Press Jury (50%) Public (50%) Total 1Lorenzo Fragola"Infinite volte" 6.30% 13.79% 10.04% 5 2Noemi"La borsa di una donna" 13.17% 5.91% 9.54% 7 3Dear Jack"Mezzo respiro" 3.44% 8.83% 6.13% 10 4Giovanni Caccamo & Deborah Iurato"Via da qui" 8.02% 16.09% 12.05% 2 5Stadio"Un giorno mi dirai" 12.79% 10.65% 11.72% 3 6Arisa"Guardando il cielo" 13.17% 6.78% 9.98% 6 7Enrico Ruggeri"Il primo amore non si scorda mai" 13.93% 8.41% 11.17% 4 8Bluvertigo"Semplicemente" 6.68% 5.62% 6.15% 9 9Rocco Hunt"Wake Up" 15.46% 16.58% 16.02% 1 10Irene Fornaciari"Blu" 7.06% 7.34% 7.20% 8
Second evening