Italy 2024: 'Sanremo' lineup revealed

It's always one of the most hotly-anticipated music contests of the year, and now we can really feel like we're inching ever closer to Italy's next edition of Festival di Sanremo; now that we have an official lineup of big names to peruse and dissect!

Broadcaster Rai dropped the list of acts that will be taking part in the five-day event in 2024, with host Amadeus announcing them live on the TV newscast Tg1 on Sunday 3 December. 

These are the superstar singers we can look forward to watching in February:

• Fiorella Mannoia
• Geolier
• Dargen D’Amico
• Emma
• Fred De Palma
• Angelina Mango
• La Sad
• Diodato
• Il Tre
• Renga & Nek
• Sangiovanni
• Alfa
• Il Volo
• Alessandra Amoroso
• Gazzelle
• Negramaro
• Irama
• Rose Villain
• Mahmood
• Loredana Berté
• The Kolors
• Big Mama
• Ghali
• Annalisa
• Mr Rain
• Maninni
• Ricchi e Poveri

Amongst the names, we have plenty of performers who have graced the Sanremo stage before, and also a few who have performed at the Eurovision Song Contest, too!

Mahmood, who represented Italy in 2019 and 2022, will be returning to participate, as will Il Volo, who gave Italy a third-place finish at Vienna 2015 with their song Grande Amore. Emma, whom Eurovision fans will remember from the bolsterous La Mia Città back in 2014, is confirmed to be participating, too.

And if you're fortunate enough to be able to cast your memory back to the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, then you might well be pleased to see that the Italian act that year - the band Ricchi e Poveri - are in the running to head to Eurovision once again! Back at Paris 1978, the Genoa group finished in 12th place with their song Questo Amore.

We can also welcome back Diodato, who won Sanremo in 2020 and was all set to head to Rotterdam for Italy, before the Contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Diotado did thankfully get to perform his song Fai Rumore to Eurovision audiences in the end, however; as an interval act at the First Semi-Final when Italy hosted the Contest in Turin in 2022.

This lineup will be joined by three more acts in late December. A separate arm of the song contest, Sanremo Giovani, will take place on 20 December. On this night, up-and-coming artists will compete with their songs, with a top three then being voted through to join the established lineup of Sanremo 2024.

Sanremo 2024 will take place every evening from Tuesday 6 February to Saturday 10 February. 

For the fifth and final year, Amadeus will be the host of Sanremo 2024. The much-loved master of ceremonies will be joined by a different co-host each night: Marco Mengoni on the Tuesday, Giorgia on the Wednesday, Teresa Mannino on the Thursday, Lorella Cuccarini on the Friday and Rosario Fiorello on Saturday's final.

At the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, Sanremo 2023 winner Marco Mengoni gave Italy a 4th-place finish with his captivating performance of the song Due Vite.