At the end of the competition, Nina Zilli, who had competed in the Big Artists section of the festival with "Per sempre", was chosen by a specific jury as the Italian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, where she would perform "L'amore è femmina".

[3] A few hours after the final of the Sanremo Music Festival 2011, Rai 1 director Mauro Mazza expressed his willing to confirm Gianni Morandi as the main presenter of the show for the 2012 contest.

[14] The authors of the show, directed by Stefano Vicario, were Ivano Balduini, Simona Ercolani, Michele Ferrari, Francesco Valitutti and Federico Moccia.

[19] The 10 winners of the contest—Levy Prato, Kachupa, Erika Mineo, Andrea Devis Mozzate, Bidiel, Giuseppe Franchino, Lavinia Desideri and Iohosemprevoglia in the SanremoLab section, Luca Bussoleti and the duo composed of Stefano Cherchi and Maurizio Chisari for the SanremoDoc section—were announced on 8 December 2011.

[20][21] On 9 December 2011, a jury composed of Gianni Morandi, Gianmarco Mazzi, Giorgio Giuffra and Claudia Lolli selected two acts among the ten winners.

[26] The six winners of the contest—Giordana Angi, Erica Mou, Celeste Gaia, Marco Guazzone, Giulia Anania and Alessandro Casillo— were announced on 14 January 2012 during the TV show SanremoSocial Day - La scelta.

In early December 2011, during an interview released to the Italian magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, Emma Marrone announced she would be one of the contestants of the festival.

[29] On 24 December 2011, Eugenio Finardi also confirmed he would compete in the Big Artists section, performing the song "E tu lo chiami Dio".

[31][32] Alongside Marrone and Finardi, the list included Dolcenera, Arisa, Samuele Bersani, Chiara Civello, Francesco Renga, Irene Fornaciari, Marlene Kuntz, Nina Zilli, Noemi, Matia Bazar, Pierdavide Carone with Lucio Dalla, and the duo composed of Gigi D'Alessio and Loredana Bertè.

[38] During the third nigh, each participant in the "Big Artists" section, including the eliminated ones, performed a foreign-language version of a popular Italian song, together with an international guest.

[38] Gigi D'Alessio with Loredana Bertè and Pierdavide Carone with Lucio Dalla were admitted to the semi-final of the show, while Irene Fornaciari and Marlene Kuntz were eliminated from the competition.

At the end of the night, a ranking was compiled by combining televoting with the votes determined by the Sanremo Festival Orchestra,[38] and the bottom two artists—Chiara Civello and Matia Bazar—were eliminated.

[59] Marlene Kuntz and Irene Fornaciari, eliminated during the previous night, would have performed with Samuel Umberto Romano and Davide Van De Sfroos, respectively.

The four artists still in competition performed their songs, and a ranking was obtained by combining televoting with the votes determined by the Sanremo Festival Orchestra.

During the first round, the ten artists still in competition performed their entries, and a ranking was obtained by combining televoting with the votes determined by the Sanremo Festival Orchestra.