Originally an annual event for the most requested videos and artists on Total Request Live, from 2013 the MTV Awards reflect what MTV Italian viewers consider the best in music, cinema and fashion.

From 2006 to 2010 the show changed its host city every year, and from 2011 to 2016 was set in Florence before moving to Rome in 2017.

The awards are presented annually and broadcast live on MTV Italy, and online.

Despite the other editions of the TRL Awards that were hosted in Milan, for this year the show was broadcast from Naples.

After six years in Florence, the broadcast moved to Rome for the first time.