Sanremo 2026, Ditonellapiaga and TonyPitony win the covers night. Gassmann-Morandi controversy

Together with Conti, Siani began by reading a phantom poem dedicated to Pippo Baudo entitled Perché Sanremo è Sanremo. "Sanremo is Sanremo," Conti begins, "because it is 76 years old with music, unforeseen events, controversy, but it is still young. Because 'it is 76 years old but still going strong: the retirement age has become much longer,' Siani echoes him. And Conti: 'Sanremo is Sanremo because Marco has left and is never coming back'. Siani replies: 'No, that's Bugo. Now there's Morgan, who left, came back, left again, maybe he'll pop up again, while Al Bano is pissed off'. The exchange continues, Sanremo is Sanremo 'because a song lasts three minutes but it can last a lifetime', because 'an episode lasts three hours but it can feel like a lifetime', when 'the audience gets up it is likely to be standing ovation', but also that it is 'the prostate'. And then Sanremo 'is the only city that when you mention it you don't need to add anything else', it is the 'only city for which you can say: I did Sanremo, I won Sanremo, Sanremo is over'. After all, 'Sanremo is the opposite of everything, it is not a city, it is a permanent condition of the soul'.

It is the night of the covers, we were saying, of the 30 performances of the Big voted by the public with the Televote (34%), by the Press, TV and Web Jury (33%) and by the Radio Jury (33%). The surprise of surprises is Thirteen Peter accompanied by his parents: Gianni and he sings Vita, a song he shared back in the day with the great Lucio Dalla. This was not announced anywhere. Remember that already in 2022, when Gianni was in the competition, in the evening of the covers the rules were forced (Morandi sang his songs, not covers) and another surprise guest (Jovanotti) appeared. In the Festival 2026 almost the same thing happened. Like an instant deja vu, a shadow of youth. Sayf will also be accompanied by Maamma as a chorister, but it is not exactly the same.

This does not go unnoticed. 'The rules are not the same for everyone'. Actor Alessandro Gassmann doesn't mince words and on social media expresses his disagreement with Gianni Morandi's surprise presence. "Ah... so it wasn't true that when a singer is competing at Sanremo a relative cannot attend the festival, and I absolutely agree, meaningless rule. Because I was supposed to go to the festival to present Guerrieri, the series that starts on Rai1 from Monday 9 March, based on the wonderful novels by Gianrico Carofiglio, but they told me I couldn't because I was the father of a singer,' explains the actor and father of Leo Gassmann, in the competition with Naturale.

Carlo Conti tries to throw water on the controversy: 'If Alessandro had wanted to do the duet with his son, there would have been no harm in it. There was an editorial choice not to do guest appearances to launch Rai fiction, because we decided to expand the number of commercials dedicated to them. I am sorry that there has been this misunderstanding'.

The evening of covers, which opened with a medley by Laura Pausini who, wearing fly goggles and kitchen gloves, sang Ritorno ad amare, Immensamente and Io canto, had another highlight with the Città di Sanremo lifetime achievement award to Caterina Caselli. "Feel free from judgement," says the former singer-producer. Sixty years have passed since Nessuno Mi Può Giudicare but the message of independence wants to be the same. "I have been lucky in my life, I have had important encounters that have helped me on this path," she says excitedly. "Nobody can judge me still contains an important message, it claims freedom of judgement. Thank you to all the people and artists from whom I have learnt something'.

The guest of the evening is Bianca Balti, who returns to the Ariston a year later: 'A year has passed but it seems like a day. And you can see it in my hair!" she tells Conti, recalling that she had lost it last year due to chemotherapy following cancer. "Yours is a great testimony and I am very excited to be able to present you once again. You are a force of nature, a pride,' Pausini tells her. "For 21 years I've been modelling but the disease is something that so many people experience, it was a huge impact and I'm here to enjoy it not only for me but for all those who have suffered and are suffering," she says. Shortly after one o'clock, there was a lecture on young people and their addictions by Professor Vincenzo Schettini in Sanremo, embedded influencer of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Addressing parents, the science popularizer, known for The Physics We Like says: 'Talk to your children, make them get things out, physics tells us that you parents are your children's most important magnetic field, you must not leave them alone'.