Someone save yourself Sanremo area or, self-quoting, save young people and their dreams from Area Sanremo.
Here we are, today, Saturday 13 December 2025, the 10 winners of Area Sanremo were listened to by Carlo Accounts and from Musical Commission of Sanremo Giovani and among them the 2 artists who will go to the Sanremo Festival 2026.
An edition of therefore ends Sanremo area which caused discussion on social media due to the strong presence of the major labels, of the poor kids from the talent shows but also for the haste with which the 505 subscribers were listened to.
We have returned, perhaps we have never moved from there, to what we said years ago on this site… someone save the Sanremo area.
What is Sanremo Area and why is it so important (for us too)
For those who have recently followed us, Area Sanremo it has always been a pest of ours in the good sense of the term. A Contest that has the privilege and at the same time the burden, the only one, of bringing someone to the most coveted and prominent musical stage in Italy.
And it is right to delve deeper into some historical aspects over the last few years because to talk about something, let's remember, you need to know.
Let's start from an assumption: Area Sanremo it is a Contest for emerging people but, as is normal and right, it also has the aim of strengthening the image of the city of flowers, of encouraging tourism thanks to the presence of participants among hotels, restaurants and clubs, in a calm period such as the winter one with consequent costs for those who participate. There's nothing wrong with it, but it has to be said.
The (tortuous) history of the competition: from the Academy to the Sanremo area
Everyone knows that the Contest has had problems and critical issues throughout its long history. The event was born in 1997 with the name of Sanremo Song Academya name maintained until 2002. After a one-year suspension, when a judicial investigation by the Prosecutor's Office and the Financial Police on the management of the Contest led to searches and arrests in 2004, it is relaunched as SanremoLaba name it kept until the 2010 edition, before taking on its current name: Sanremo area.
The activity of setting up, organizing and managing the event starting from the 2015 edition was entrusted by the Municipality of Sanremo to Sanremo Symphony Orchestra Foundationwho still coordinates the competition today.
A particular path but it must be said, managing a Contest with a prize so coveted by many is certainly not easy: bringing one or more artists to one of the most coveted and profitable places in Italy for music, certainly the most visible. Coveted by producers, artists, record labels, authors, publishers and major labels.
The investigations by All Music Italia
Starting from 2017, our site, and myself, began to deal with the Contest in a more continuous manner after an edition that was forgotten by (almost) everyone, with a single objective: to safeguard one of the few things in Italy that can really give emerging people an opportunity.
the 2017 edition
The 2017 edition was probably one of the most discussed and controversial ever. The Contest was transformed into a traveling tour around Italy: a tour that, touring Italy with 104 dates between selections, finals and associated festivals, it allowed anyone who wanted to participate in the initial selections free of charge without moving and choosing whether to present an unreleased song (which could not be the one to be presented at the Festival) or a cover.
Having made this first skimming, very broad-based, we moved on to one of the regional/interregional finals. To participate in these finals it was necessary for the boys to pay a bank transfer of €122 (€200 for groups).
Obviously it was the boom in registrations since it was Area Sanremo that came to you and not you that went to Sanremo area. According to the data of the official press releases, it arrived at 2,890 membersof which well 1,720 deemed suitable. We are talking about income, if we consider the presence of single artists alone, of over 200,000 euros.
These 1,720 young people participated in the paid regional final selections and, among them, were selected 800suitable results, who could have participated in Sanremo area and its courses, upon payment of the registration fee of €150 + VAT (€175 + VAT for duos, €200 + VAT for groups). Income without VAT, if they had all been single, over 120,000 euros. In short, a big round of money (here our article of the time).
Our investigations: 2018–2019
The 2018 edition tried to straighten things out by partially canceling the traveling tour, lowering registration costs and reinstating the requirement for an unreleased song right from the start. Here an article on that edition.
That edition, however, was the one that brought us, thanks to the too many reports from membersto ask public questions, as there were photos of jurors having dinner with the managers of the competing artists, managers/producers of artists they assigned special prizes at your own expense, record labels who organized regional selections exclusively and who then had very high percentages of artists in the advanced stages of the contest.
There were a series of questions (HERE and HERE) which received answers from almost all the members of the Commission and the people mentioned, including the then artistic director of the Contest, Massimo Cotto.
Here there was a breaking point real in which, to support our articles, he also inserted himself Striscia La Notizia with Pinuccio. 2019 saw the first significant changes such as the introduction of public voting of the jurors (at the joint request of us and of Franco Zanetti with Rockol) at the end of the competition (then canceled in subsequent years by Amadeus and successors), a desk for participant reports and above all registration is completely free thanks to the coverage of the sponsor Tim.
Results achieved also thanks to the commitment of the then President of the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra Foundation, Livio Emanueli (see here).
The year of the guarantor: 2021
2021 was a particular year, better or worse, let's leave it up to the professionals and the members to decide, and not us, as they saw us on the pitch first hand.
Massimo Cotto and the Sanremo Area Symphony Orchestra Foundation in fact they decided to call the undersigned to fill the role of Guarantor for participants (see here).
Thanks to a valid commission led by Franco Zanetti we tried to implement important changes for young people who, let's remember, spend money on travel and hotels, spend hopes and desires and want to be listened to.
It was a year in which the Commission listened to the children, approximately 700 membersfrom 10am until 10pm. A year in which all the kids were welcomed and we tried to put them at ease before the audition, also explaining to them to report immediately if there were technical problems.
They were guaranteed to every boy 8/10 minute audition with the commission taking a real interest in them, putting them at ease with questions, even biting ones if they were needed. They were only 10 minutes, we couldn't do more, but they were already something.
Transparent voting was maintained and even the moment of the announcement of the winners, including the discussion phase between the jurors of the Commission, on Zanetti's idea, was transmitted in transparency Facebook live.
We tried to do the best and, during the final press conference live on social media, I explained that attempts to report had reached the commission, that I was aware of it and that they had been totally ignored. Maybe too much truth? I don't know. It was my only year… and the only year in which there was the figure of the Guarantor which I described, between logbook and advice for the future, in this article.
The Amadeus era and the turning point of 2022
Then it arrived Amadeus and he changed everything by taking, as he always does, responsibility for everything. Via external commissions and within the RAI authors of the Festival to make the preselections.
If once Area Sanremo stood out for being open only to independents, with a label or not, it became a contest open to anyone, including major labels.
His goal was probably to do some “cleaning up,” but he ended up making it an extension of Sanremo Youthvery close to major labels and well-known record labels.
And so we arrive at this year's edition, Sanremo 2025 areawhich is receiving a lot of criticism, not always accurate, on social media. Click on continue below.
