Italy is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. Italian broadcaster RAI announced that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2024 will earn the right to represent the nation at the contest.
As a member of the "Big Five", Italy automatically qualifies to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Background
Prior to the 2024 contest, Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-seven times since its first entry at the inaugural contest in . Since then, Italy has won the contest on three occasions: in with the song "" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti, in with "" by Toto Cutugno, and in with "" by Måneskin. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times, with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. Italy made its return in , and their entry "Madness of Love", performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placed second—their highest result, to that point, since their victory in 1990. A number of top 10 placements followed in the next editions, culminating with their victory in 2021. In , Italy placed fourth with "" performed by Marco Mengoni.
The Italian national broadcaster, (RAI), broadcasts the event within Italy and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Between 2011 and 2013 and since 2015, the Sanremo Music Festival has regularly been used to select the Italian entrant to the contest, at first through an intermediate stage of internal selection among the contestants, and after 2014 (when a full internal selection took place), the winner of the festival has always earned the right of first refusal to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Before Eurovision
Sanremo Music Festival 2024
Italian broadcaster RAI is organising the Sanremo Music Festival 2024, the 74th edition of the event, between 6 and 10 February 2024. On 10 July 2023, the broadcaster published the rules of the competition, confirming that its winner will earn the right to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest.
For the fifth and final year in a row, Amadeus will serve as the artistic director and presenter of Sanremo. 26 artists, three of which directly qualifying from the newcomers' section (to be held on 20 December 2023), are scheduled to compete in the festival, over the course of five consecutive nights. The other 23 competing entries, having a submission deadline of 27 November 2023, are to be selected directly by the artistic director and announced no sooner than 1 December 2023.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big Five", Italy automatically qualifies to compete in the final on 11 May 2024. In addition to its participation in the final, Italy is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This will be decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw in January 2024.
In May 2023, , deputy head of primetime entertainment at RAI (as well as member of the EBU's Eurovision reference group), discussed the possibility of expanding Eurovision-related programming on Rai 1, including moving the broadcast of the semi-finals from Rai 2 to Rai 1.