Sal Da Vinci will represent Italy at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, following his victory at the 76th Sanremo Music Festival. He secured the win with his song “Per Sempre Sì,” narrowly defeating Sayf by just 0.03 percent of the vote, according to results announced Monday.
The Sanremo festival, which concluded after four hours of performances, saw Da Vinci emerge victorious after a closely contested final round. The super-final voting combined the scores from the press, web, and television jury (33%), the radio jury (33%), and the Italian public televote (34%), weighted alongside the average results from the first, second, third, and fifth nights of the competition.
This year’s competition was particularly tight, with Ditonellapiaga finishing a close third, only 1.6 percent behind Da Vinci. Arisa and the duo Fedez & Masini rounded out the top five, receiving 18.9 percent and 16.5 percent of the votes respectively. The complete ranking of the top 30 finalists was released following the announcement of the winner.
Several awards were presented alongside the main competition. Fulminacci received the Mia Martini Critics’ Award for “Stupida sfortuna,” while Serena Brancale was honored with the Lucio Dalla Press Award for “Qui con me.” Fedez & Masini won the Sergio Bardotti Award for best lyrics with “Male necessario,” and Ditonellapiaga’s “Che fastidio!” was recognized with the Giancarlo Bigazzi Award for best musical composition. Serena Brancale also received the Lunezia Award for the most emotionally resonant artist.
Da Vinci confirmed his participation in Eurovision 2026 during a press conference following his Sanremo win. This confirmation addresses concerns stemming from last year’s festival, where Olly, the 2025 Sanremo winner, declined to represent Italy at Eurovision due to prior concert commitments. Lucio Corsi, the runner-up, then represented Italy in Basel, finishing fifth.
The full list of finalists included Nayt (“Prima che”), Fulminacci (“Stupida sfortuna”), Ermal Meta (“Stella stellina”), Serena Brancale (“Qui con me”), Tommaso Paradiso (“I romantici”), LDA & AKA 7even (“Poesie clandestine”), Luchè (“Labirinto”), Bambole di pezza (“Resta con me”), Levante (“Sei tu”), J-Ax (“Italia Starter Pack”), Tredici Pietro (“Uomo che cade”), Samurai Jay (“Ossessione”), Raf (“Ora e per sempre”), Malika Ayane (“Animali notturni”), Enrico Nigiotti (“Ogni volta che non so volare”), Maria Antonietta & Colombre (“La felicità e basta”), Michele Bravi (“Prima o poi”), Francesco Renga (“Il meglio di me”), Patty Pravo (“Opera”), Chiello (“Ti penso sempre”), Elettra Lamborghini (“Voilà”), Dargen D’Amico (“Ai ai”), Leo Gassmann (“Naturale”), Mara Sattei (“Le cose che non sai di me”), Eddie Brock (“Avvoltoi”).
