Sanremo: Stefano De Martino host of the 2027 Festival

Carlo Conti had anticipated it in the press conference this morning: a handover during the Festival final. For the first time: never before had the incumbent host made his successor official in the public eye.

The 2027 Festival will be hosted by Stefano De Martino, who will also be artistic director. De Martino’s announcement was greeted by applause at the Ariston Theatre, but also by some whistles.
These are his words

I am very happy, I thank Rai, the CEO Giampaolo Rossi and the Director of Entertainment and Prime Time, Williams Di Liberatore for this extraordinary opportunity, and Carlo Conti who very generously wanted me to be here this evening to pass the baton to me.
I want to get involved and enjoy every day of this challenging journey to the Ariston. I will approach it with listening, respect and enthusiasm. I can’t wait to get to work and dedicate all the energy it deserves to the Festival.

Traditionally, the topic of “after me” sparked endless discussions starting from the last evening, continuing for weeks, if not months. In this case we had already been talking about it for weeks, given that Conti had announced some time ago that this would be the end of his mandate. It was Dagospia who anticipated Stefano De Martino’s management hypothesis and who supported him, Giuseppe Candela wrote on the site, there was talk of Fabrizio Ferraguzzo, ex Sony and X Factor, now manager of Maneskin – as artistic director. In essence, the person responsible for choosing the songs and relations with the record companies.

Instead, the position of Artistic Director will be held by De Martino, who has no experience in this field and has relationships that still need to be (re)built. The 2026 edition was not simple: the voices collected by Rockol speak of artists who did not trust themselves to come to the competition and of dissatisfaction and tensions in the discography in relations with RAI and with the current artistic direction regarding the management of the process of choosing the cast and that of managing the setlists and the competition.
But the road to Sanremo 2027 is long, and a lot will depend on the team that will be built around the host and artistic director.