In 1997 he took part in the Sanremo Music Festival, in the "Star" category, with the song "Laura non c'è" which reached number one on the Italian Singles Chart and went on to become his international breakthrough as it reached the Top Ten in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium.

[1][2] Nek's fifth album, In due was released in June 1998 and he followed it with La vita è in 2000 and Le cose da difendere in 2002.

[4] Una parte di me, which was released in May 2005, sold over 200,000 copies in Italy[1] and included the hit single "Lascia che io sia", one of the Top Ten best-selling singles of 2005 in Italy.

Nek released his 10th album Nella stanza 26 in 2006, and in 2007 he recorded a new version of the Spanish-language version of "Lascia che io sia", titled "Para ti seria", with the Spanish band El Sueño de Morfeo, which was hugely successful on Spanish Download chart and sold more than 250,000 downloads.

[1] In November 2010 Nek celebrated his first twenty years as an artist with the compilation album Greatest Hits 1992–2010: E da qui.