The show was presented by Carlo Conti, who also served as the artistic director for the competition, together with Virginia Raffaele, Mădălina Diana Ghenea and Gabriel Garko.

The program was written by Carlo Conti, Ivana Sabatini, Emanuele Giovannini, Leopoldo Siano, Giona Peduzzi, Riccardo Cassini, Martino Clericetti and Mario D'Amico.

The final for the Big Artists section took place on 13 February 2016 where "Un giorno mi dirai" performed by Stadio was selected as the winner.

As the winners of the main section, Stadio also won the right to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016; however, RAI confirmed after the competition that Stadio decided not to participate in the contest, with runner-up Francesca Michielin and "Nessun grado di separazione" being selected by RAI as the Italian Eurovision entrant.

All twenty songs advanced to the fourth evening, the semi-final, and faced an additional vote consisting of public televoting (40%), an expert jury (30%) and an demoscopic poll (30%).

In the final, sixteen songs competed and the top three advanced to a second round of voting in order to select the winner.

The winner of each duel, as determined by the equal combination of votes from a press jury and a public televote, advanced to the final held during the fourth evening on 12 February.

During the final, the four entries competed and the winner was determined via the combination of a public televote (40%), an expert jury (30%) and an demoscopic poll (30%).

[3] Voting during the five evenings occurred through different combinations of the following methods:[3][4][5] Television presenter Carlo Conti, who was also the competition's artistic director, hosted Sanremo for a second consecutive year.

[8] Decisions related to the selection of artists and compositions were taken by Carlo Conti in collaboration with a music committee under the direction of Rai 1.

Six of the eight artists were selected through the programme #SG – Sanremo Giovani, which aired on Rai 1 and was hosted by Carlo Conti.

[3] The names of the twenty participants competing in the Big Artists section were announced by Carlo Conti on 13 December 2015 during the Rai 1 programme L'Arena, hosted by Massimo Giletti.

[11] The first evening on 9 February featured ten of the twenty acts competing in the Big Artists section presenting their songs.

Other guests for the show included the comedy trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, athlete Giuseppe Ottaviani and actresses Kasia Smutniak and Anna Foglietta.

[4][5] The second evening on 10 February featured the song presentations of the remaining ten acts competing in the Big Artists section.

Other guests for the show included actress Nicole Kidman, actor and comedian Nino Frassica and chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo.

Other guests for the show included author and director Marc Hollogne, athlete Nicole Orlando and comedians Michele and Stefano Manca.

[4][5] During the first Newcomers' semi-final duel, "Mentre ti parlo", performed by Miele, was originally announced as the winner with 53% of the votes.

Other guests included ballet dancer Roberto Bolle and actors Guglielmo Scilla and Giuseppe Fiorello.

[32] The international television service Rai Italia broadcast the competition in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia.