Sanremo 2026, the line-up for the first evening with times for singers and guests

How will the ratings go? Conti plays the fireman: 'Last year it seemed impossible to match certain numbers and instead a little bit of chance, a little bit of luck, a little bit of skill led us to exceed them. You have seen the serenity with which I lived last year, I did not come in two inches off the ground proud of the results: I do not get excited if things are going too well, I will not get down if tomorrow the results are not those... also because all in all I have to beat myself,'' said the presenter, now in his fifth edition of the Festival as artistic director. 'I will have the same serenity,' he explained, 'if we do five, six points less. The scenario is different, we have moved two weeks, the competitors are different, there are football matches. Luckily Fiorentina plays on Thursday at 18.45 and I can watch it'.

As for the interference of politics and the appeal of the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa for a possible comeback of Andrea Pucci, Conti clarifies: "We spoke with Andrea, he told me he does not feel like it and I respect him". This year's, according to the Tuscan presenter, 'more than a Christian Democrat festival, it will be a Christian and Democratic festival. Christian because there are references to my very modest faith and democratic because it is open to everyone'.

Williams Di Liberatore, director of Rai's Prime Time Entertainment, also addressed the issue. In La Russa's words 'I saw no pressure of any kind: it is an opinion, there is no response from the company. I do not agree that it was an institutional video: the president of the Senate expressed his opinion and gave advice to the artistic director, who is free to accept it or not,' he adds. 'I did not see an imperative in it'.

Does disengagement win in Sanremo? "I think the best answer comes from this 105-year-old lady, who must make our young people think, testifying for our grandparents, our parents, those who fought, lost their lives, the partisans who freed Italia from the fascist, Nazi-fascist dictatorship, for the Republic. Indeed, the hope is that all the countries of the world will one day have a Sanremo festival,' Conti said. 'I don't think an event like Sanremo should be two hours of proclamations or reflections, perhaps it is even stronger if every now and then there is a little reflection that leads us to reason'.

Another case concerns the attempt to bring Adriano Celentano back to the Ariston: 'There have of course been contacts absolutely, we always welcome Celentano. In this case we're not talking about the festival but about any project that we can absolutely develop together. That can only please us. It is clear that the discussion must be based on a project, so the moment there is a project we will evaluate together if there is an opportunity of course,' says Di Liberatore. "We are not talking about the festival also because can you imagine with Celentano's pauses what a delay it makes us do? "Quick, quick Adriano!" But I do take the opportunity to thank him because I know he really appreciated the fact that at the President of the Republic, we sang Azzurro. So I thank from my heart and embrace the great Adriano and also Claudia'.