Is Sanremo About to Pack Its Bags? RAI Flirts with a Coastal Refresh for Italy’s Favourite Song Contest
For 75 years the Festival di Sanremo has been Italy’s annual love letter to melody, melodrama and improbable key-changes. Yet behind the red curtain of the Teatro Ariston a plot twist is brewing: according to credible leaks in Il Messaggero, the RAI is seriously pondering a relocation once the 2026 edition is done and dusted. The romance between broadcaster and Riviera may be hitting the “it’s-not-you-it’s-me” stage—fewer roses, more spreadsheets.
When a seaside icon turns into a pricey timeshare
Sanremo’s municipality has hiked its yearly fee to a record €6.5 million and would also like a slice of the advertising pie to upgrade local infrastructure. Fair enough, except the RAI already funds extra stages, broadcast trucks and a small army of technicians who monopolise every spare socket in the Ligurian town for a week. Add vintage plumbing and limited hotel capacity, and you begin to understand why executives are eyeing venues with more lifts than stairs.
Sorrento vs Viareggio (with Rimini and Senigallia waving from the back)
Enter a queue of coastal contenders only too happy to roll out a longer red carpet:
- Sorrento – postcard views, Amalfi glamour, but limited winter transport links.
- Viareggio – carnival pedigree and, deliciously, host of the first proto-Sanremos in 1948–49.
- Rimini / Senigallia – Adriatic nightlife and enough beach clubs to house every influencer twice.
- Turin’s Inalpi Arena – landlocked yet temptingly modern, already Eurovision-tested in 2022.
The RAI’s rumoured Plan B is an itinerant model: shift the festival every two years, Eurovision-style, harvesting regional sponsorship along the way. Great for tourism boards; less so for purists who consider Ariston parquet holy ground.
Follow the money… and the majors
While the council negotiates like an Airbnb super-host, the major record labels are grumbling about meagre appearance fees and hinting at a boycott if budgets don’t fatten. Sanremo without A-list Italians is a karaoke night with better lighting, so the broadcaster is under pressure to keep both mayors and music moguls sweet. No wonder the latest palinsesti press conference sounded half roadshow, half hostage video.
The logistical reality check
Romantics argue that abandoning Sanremo would sever an irreplaceable cultural cord. Realists counter that air-conditioned arenas, rapid rail links and proper backstage Wi-Fi beat nostalgic charm—especially when every fourth rehearsal involves tripping over 1950s cabling. RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi summed it up with a flourish: “The festival is RAI’s. We can stage it wherever we like.” Translation: pack the glitter, we have a contingency plan.
Could the brand survive a rebrand?
Re-labelling the event “Festival della Canzone Italiana” solves the geography issue but risks losing a global hashtag worth its weight in confetti. Marketing departments everywhere are already practising: #Sorrento2027 just doesn’t sing like #Sanremo, does it? Still, if the show’s DNA really is about champions, scandals and 3-minute epics, perhaps the postcode matters less than the decibel count.
So, will 2027 feature a Neapolitan terrace, Tuscan promenade or the familiar façade of the Ariston? The only certainty is that negotiations will rival the modulation in a Marco Mengoni power-ballad. One thing’s for sure: wherever the orchestra lands, Italians—and the rest of us—will still argue about the winner on Monday morning.
Source: Il Messaggero- Davide Maggio
