On 16 February 2013, Marco Mengoni, based on a combination of televotes and points awarded by a jury,[1] was announced the winner of the competition, with his song "L'essenziale".

The final winner of the Newcomers' section, Antonio Maggio with the song "Mi servirebbe sapere", was announced on 15 February 2013, based on points awarded by a jury and on televotes.

[1] On 24 January 2013, it was also announced that, as in 2011 and in 2012, an internal commission would select the artist representing Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 among all the competing acts.

[3] Immediately after Gianni Morandi, who presented the contest in 2011 and 2012, announced he didn't want to return to the Sanremo Music Festival for a third consecutive year, Fabio Fazio started being considered for the role.

During the fifth night, each act competing in the Big Artists section sang a cover of a song originally performed during a previous edition of the Sanremo Music Festival.