San Marino starts whispering about 2026, and honestly, that’s when it gets interesting

San Marino never really announces things in a loud way. It prefers a soft launch, a carefully placed sentence, a confirmation slipped into the wider noise of Italian television. And somehow, that approach always works.

This time, the whisper has a date attached.

San Marino RTV has confirmed that the ten “Big Artists” set to compete in the Dreaming San Marino Song Contest 2026 will be revealed on 26 February, during a press conference in Sanremo while the Festival di Sanremo is in full swing.

It is a very San Marino move. Using Italy’s biggest music week as the backdrop for its own story. Borrowing the atmosphere without trying to outshine it. Letting curiosity do the heavy lifting.

Because in the San Marino ecosystem, the Big Artists are never just decorative names.

They quietly define the level of ambition for the entire season.

Every year, that list answers a few unspoken questions. Is San Marino aiming for recognisable profiles? Are they courting international names? Are they building around newcomers? Or are they mixing everything together and seeing what survives?

We will not know until the envelope opens, but the fact that people already care is telling in itself.

The broadcaster has also confirmed that the winner of Dreaming San Marino 2026 will once again be chosen by a five-member jury, chaired by radio host and songwriter Federica Gentile, with Red Ronnie returning among the jurors.

No format revolution. No sudden philosophical shift. San Marino is staying loyal to its jury-based identity, which at this point feels less like a design choice and more like a personality trait.

Around this central spine, the familiar Dreaming San Marino machinery is already turning.

Open casting feeds into the Stage & Live Academy phase, which remains exactly as demanding as its name suggests. Eight sessions, thirty singers in each, one song per participant. Most applicants pay a €150 fee to take part, while artists from San Marino pay €50.

From every session, five singers are selected by a jury.

Those selected artists move forward to two semi-finals on 2 and 3 March, with twenty acts competing per night. Five from each show advance.

By the time everything settles, ten artists will have fought their way through this process and earned a place in the final.

Waiting for them there will be the ten Big Artists announced in February.

Twenty acts.
One jury.
One winner.

And that contrast is part of why Dreaming San Marino continues to fascinate. Half marathon, half invitation-only dinner party. A system where persistence and profile collide on the same stage.

Some years this produces a left-field surprise. Other years it produces something comfortably middle-of-the-road. Occasionally it produces something that makes perfect sense only after the third listen.

What it almost always produces is conversation.

So while 26 February might look like a small calendar note on paper, in San Marino terms it is the first real pulse of the 2026 season.

Quiet. Controlled. Slightly mysterious.

Which, in its own understated way, feels exactly right.

Source: San Marino tv