Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) announced in October 2015 that the winning performer(s) of the Big Artists section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2016 would have the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden.

Michielin performed a bilingual Italian and English version of her Sanremo runner-up entry "Nessun grado di separazione", which was titled "No Degree of Separation" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

On 2 October 2015, Italian broadcaster RAI confirmed that the performer that would represent Italy at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the competing artists at the Sanremo Music Festival 2016.

The performers in the "Big Artists" category were:[5] During the final evening of the Sanremo Music Festival 2016, the group Stadio was selected as the winner with the song "Un giorno mi dirai".

[6] However, RAI later confirmed during the closing press conference for the Sanremo Music Festival on 14 February 2016 that they were still waiting for Stadio's final decision on whether they would participate at Eurovision.

[9] An announcement was made shortly afterwards that Sanremo 2016 runner-up Francesca Michielin would represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

[11][12] Francesca Michielin made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "No Degree of Separation" as the Italian Eurovision entry.

On 9 April, Michielin performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk.

[14] In the week prior to arriving in Stockholm, Francesca Michielin completed a roadtrip where she made promotional appearances in Vienna, Warsaw, Berlin and Copenhagen.

[21] During the opening ceremony festivities that took place on 8 May, Francesca Michielin took part in a draw to determine in which half of the final the Italian entry would be performed.

Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.