Tonight, Sanremo 2025 officially begins in its 75th edition! As a reminder, five-time host Amadeus left his post at the end of the previous edition, and 2015-17 artistic director Carlo Conti has returned in his place. He will host tonight alongside TV presenter Antonella Clerici, and presenter, actor, and former politician Gerry Scotti. At the end of the week, we will have Italy’s 2025 Eurovision entry, going forward to represent the country in Basel.
If you would like to learn more about the lineup and what to expect from their entries, you can read our previous article here.
Here we give you a run down of what to expect from tonight.
Running order
All 29 acts will perform for the first time tonight, so we will have heard every song in contention by the end of the show. Notably for Eurovision fans, there are familiar faces among the lineup. Achille Lauro represented San Marino in 2022 with ‘Stripper‘ (14th in semi final two), Francesca Michielin represented Italy in 2016 with ‘No degree of separation‘ (16th), Francesco Gabbani represented Italy in 2017 with ‘Occidentali’s Karma‘ (6th), and Massimo Ranieri represented Italy in 1971 with ‘L’amore è un attimo‘ (5th), and in 1973 with ‘Chi sarà con te‘ (13th).
- Gaia – ‘Chiamo io chiami tu’ (I call you call)
- Francesco Gabbani – ‘Viva la vita’ (Long live life)
- Rkomi – ‘Il ritmo delle cose’ (The rhythm of things)
- Noemi – ‘Se t’innamori muori’ (If you fall in love you’ll die)
- Irama – ‘Lentamente’ (Slowly)
- Coma_Cose – ‘Cuoricini (Little hearts)
- Simone Cristicchi – ‘Quando sarai piccola’ (When you’ll be young)
- Marcella Bella – ‘Pelle diamante’ (Diamond skin)
- Achille Lauro – ‘Inconscienti giovani’ (Reckless youth)
- Giorgia – ‘La cura per me’ (The cure for me)
- Willie Peyote – ‘Grazie ma no grazie’ (Thanks but no thanks)
- Rose Villain – ‘Fuorilegge’ (Outlaw)
- Olly – ‘Balorda nostalgia’ (Mischievous nostalgia)
- Elodie – ‘Dimenticarsi alle 7’ (Forget at 7)
- Shablo with Guè, Joshua, and Tormento – ‘La mia parola’ (My word)
- Massimo Ranieri – ‘Tra le mani un cuore (In the hands a heart)
- Tony Effe – ‘Damme ‘na mano’ (Give me a hand)
- Serena Brancale – ‘Anema e core’ (Heart and soul)
- Brunori Sas – ‘L’albero delle noci’ (The walnut tree)
- Modà – ‘Non ti dimentico’ (I won’t forget you)
- Clara – ‘Febbre’ (Fever)
- Lucio Corsi – ‘Volevo essere un duro’ (I wanted to be a tough guy)
- Fedez – ‘Battito’ (Beating)
- Bresh – ‘La tana del granchio’ (The crab’s den)
- Sarah Toscano – ‘Amarcord’ (I remember)
- Joan Thiele – ‘Eco’ (Echo)
- Rocco Hunt – ‘Mille vote ancora’ (A thousand times more)
- Francesca Michielin – ‘Fango in paradiso’ (Mud in heaven)
- The Kolors – ‘Tu con chi fai l’amore’ (Who are you making love with)
Special guests
Tonight, we will see Jovanotti perform, and Eurovision 2009 16th placers Noa and Mira Awad will sing a cover of ‘Imagine‘. We will also see a performance of Raf singing ‘Self Control‘ on the Suzuki Stage in Piazza Colombo. Once the show is over, Eurovision 2022 host Alessandro Cattelan will host the Dopofestival with special guests Selvaggia Lucarelli and Anna Dello Russo, which will feature thoughts on the entries, and potentially special performances.
Voting
A jury comprised of representatives from the press, TV, and web will vote throughout the night, giving each song a score from 1-10. At the end of the show, the top five in random order will be revealed. We will not see an official order, or the placements from 6th-29th until the final, so an element of surprise is retained, but we will be able to see who has initially done well.
And with that, we look ahead to the rest of the evening! The first night of Sanremo can be watched on Rai 1 or Rai Play (which will be un-geoblocked for the show throughout the week) starting at 20:40 CET, with the PrimaFestival beginning ten minutes beforehand. The show is scheduled to end at 1:30 CET, with Carlo Conti stressing that he wants to reduce the overall length of each night, so this timeframe may be fairly accurate, rather than having it overrun. Following on is the aftershow DopoFestival if you want to continue watching, and the songs will be released on streaming services at around 2:00 CET.
Who are you most excited for? Any winner predictions yet? Or will there be a dark horse? Let us know!
