Sanremo 2026, all the songs previewed (with report cards)

Patty Pravo ANSA/CLAUDIO PERI

Giovanni Caccamo, an author that the Maestro liked, puts the Lady back where she deserves to be: 'We are saints and sinners/ Sailors and dreamers/ Somewhat satellites/ Philosophers of nothing'. An intellectual ballad that worthily celebrates an unrepeatable career. It won't win, but it is the right way to do it.

Luchè

A noble name in Neapolitan urban, Luchè knows how to do certain things. Here, however, it is not clear why he wants to do the same as everyone else, rinsing his clothes in the sweet water of a love pop: 'And what I know about you/ Is that you are as beautiful as a lie/ Said not to cry'.

Mara Sattei ANSA/ETTORE FERRARI

Sanremo song in an almost classic way with the refrain that opens as everyone would expect: 'All the nights telling each other/ The things you don't know about me/ Your voice in the sad days/ Heals my disorder'. A little more disorder, however, sometimes doesn't hurt.

Francesco Renga ANSA/ETTORE FERRARI

Renga does Renga: 'But sometimes it happens/ That even a tear smiles/ Forgive the worst of me, the worst of me/ The worst of me'. A ballad that in the early 2000s would have won easily. Too new to be vintage, too old to sound young'.

Ditonellapiaga ANSA/GIUSEPPE LAMI

Four-part catchphrase on the unsustainability of everything out there: 'Milan fashion (what a nuisance!)/ The Roman snob (what a nuisance!)/ The American dream (what a nuisance!)/ and the Italia politician (what a nuisance!)'. And we subscribe.

Leo Gassmann ANSA/RICCARDO ANTIMIANI

In the age of liquid music, careers can be very short. Someone, however, still has a chance, then another, then another. And how does he play it? 'But it doesn't count if you look at me now/ With those glazed eyes and stain/ My sweatshirt with black eyliner'. If we were him, we'd go for the cinema.

Sal Da Vinci ANSA/CLAUDIO PERI

Neomelodico sung 99% in Italian: 'Saremo io e te/ Per sempre/ Legati per la vita che/ Senza te/ Non vale niente/ Non ha senso vivere'. Why 99%? Because on the penultimate verse an 'accussì' promptly pops up. Instant classic from Vesuvian weddings.

Levante ANSA/GIUSEPPE LAMI

Psychosomatic ballad: 'Ah, I can't feel my legs,/ Ah, where are my arms?/ And I miss my breath,/ Yet I am alive,/ I feel that I am smiling'. What could be so decisive? "It's like this/ You fall in love". It might end up high on the charts, but we recommend it especially to your physiotherapist. Half a mark up because, in the era of co-written songs, she wrote the song completely on her own.

Tredici Pietro ANSA/FABIO FRUSTACI

Thirteen Peter, born Morandi II, rappes in the verse and then cleverly resolves it in the refrain: 'Close the door in my face/ If seeing me cry a little relaxes you/ Tell me you have too many things to say/ Things to do, papers to burn'. Masterpiece of self-indulgence.

Enrico Nigiotti ANSA/ETTORE FERRARI

Time is a central theme in philosophy, as in songs. Ernico Nigiotti's reflections are certainly not Kant's. "Time flies I have already said it/ Even in a broken clock oo". We are still wondering about the meaning of that 'oo'. Could it be a quotation from Domenico Modugno?

Samurai Jay ANSA/RICCARDO DALLE LUCHE

Urban latineggiante to be sung with a bad wolf's eye: 'Andale andale/ Take a couple of photos then send them/ Show me what you're wearing tonight/ Then let's do the high tide'. It may be that Sanremo falls high this year, but it already feels like summer here.

Serena Brancale ANSA/FABIO FRUSTACI

If Anema e core showed the 'bread and peppers' soul of Serena Brancale, Qui con me on the contrary bets on the sophisticated one: piano ballad that could have been written for Giorgia. "And if I took you away from those stars/ to erase your goodbye from my skin/ I would climb the earth and the sky/ even the whole universe/ to have you still here with me". And the virtuosities are wasted.

Arisa ANSA/FABIO FRUSTACI

A fairy-tale setting for Arisa's return to the Ariston: 'When I was thirty everyone told me what a beautiful voice you have/ When I was forty I just want to find some peace'. It may not go down in history, but it is an honest piece.

Nayt ANSA/RICCARDO DALLE LUCHE

'As long as you know what you take/ You don't know what you lose,' rappes Nayt in an urban too reassuring to be true.

Dargen D’amico

It had to happen and it did happen in the end: even at Sanremo, the first song dedicated to artificial intelligence peeps out. Thanks to Dargen D'Amico, also with his eye on the dancefloor: 'I read in the paper/ That certain things you can't do yet with/ Ai'. If humanity has a future, that humanity will have the sound of the 1970s.

RAF ANSA/ETTORE FERRARI

'What will be left of these eighties', Raf used to ask himself as the decade of Milano da bere drew to a close. Now that nostalgia for the eighties reigns supreme, he takes the stage at the Ariston with a song he could have written at the time: 'And you are always the most beautiful/ Time is a wonder/ And every mark on your skin speaks of you'. Indeed: didn't he write it at the time?

Lda & Aka 7even

In 76 editions of Sanremo we have heard all kinds of compliments addressed to the fairer sex. This one was missing: 'You are Naples underground'. We thank D'Alessio junior with the friend from Amici by Maria De Filippi for this Neapolitan reggaeton.

Bambole di Pezza

A little bit of punk, a little bit of originality, a little bit of irreverence on the Ariston stage always goes down well. The Bambole di Pezza instead bet on another number: 'Resta con me in questi tempi di odio/ Tu resta con me/ Anche se tutto questo ci cambierà'. Harmless pop rock with a feel-good lyric.

Fulminacci ANSA/ETTORE FERRARI

Fulminacci, another dioscuro of Italian indie, also throws himself into the 1980s: 'Stupid, stupid bad luck/ That I think about it even if I don't/ Frosty, icy fear'. Perhaps not a work of art, but it is excellent craftsmanship.

Ermal Meta ANSA / CIRO FUSCO

War does not spare children. Ermal Meta is the one who, with a Latin setting and without disturbing too much, manages to bring these themes into the Italian home: 'Stella Stellina/ La notte si avvicina/ Non basta una preghiera/ Per non pensarci più'. Not a masterpiece, but it saves the spirit.

Elettra Lamborghini ANSA/ETTORE FERRARI

Rai loves to self-cite: 'And so viva viva la Carrà/ Dancing and then ending up on the floor/ Viva l'amore amore that you do/ in the dark and the television on'. Sheepish, discothecary ars amandi that we could have happily done without.

Chiello

An urban artist who lingers on rock sounds, Chiello this time breaks out a song set in the days of Mellon Collie by the Smashing Pumpkins: 'I think of you all the time/ And I want to fall out of love/ And there's nothing left/ Just a sliver of us'. Not bad.

Eddie Brock ANSA/RICCARDO DALLE LUCHE

'I've tried you know/ But I can't help but think of an us', sings Eddie Brock. Songwriting applied to teenage loves.

Maria Antonietta & Colombre

How to escape from a world where 'the sperm model with the gorgeous skin' on social media tells you: 'Just be yourself and everything will be OK'? Here is the recipe of Marie Antoinette & Colombre: 'Baby, let's do a robbery together/ To take back our whole life'. Instigation to commit a crime, but for good. Still from the 1970s.

Fedez & Marco Masini

What goes around comes around. After the Bella stronza experiment, Fedez and Masini discuss the art of being fathers. The lyrics do not lack a few pearls: 'Modest people judge/ What bad people Fedez hangs out with/ But you always forget that Judas/ He used to hang out with decent people'.

Michele Bravi ANSA

Ballad with piano arpeggiating and violins wailing: 'And I would like to ring you but/ I no longer have your name'. Fortunately.

J-Ax

A little bit of combat folk, a little bit of country, a little bit of 883, a smattering of social criticism et volià: 'Here to make a living you need a little bit of ass always/ It's forbidden but never mind/ I'll pass you the gas barrel/ Italia starter pack'. All in all, an entertaining piece. Pity only for that banjo that sounds like a sampler.