Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "No Degree of Separation" written by Federica Abbate, Francesca Michielin, Cheope, Fabio Gargiulo and Norma Jean Martine. The song was performed by Francesca Michielin. Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) announced in October 2015 that the winning performer(s) of the Big Artists section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2016 would have the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in , Sweden. The selected performer would also be given the right to choose their own song to compete with at Eurovision. The group Stadio ended up winning the Big Artists section, however they declined the opportunity to represent Italy in Stockholm. RAI then appointed the runner-up, Francesca Michielin, as the Italian entrant. Michielin performed a bilingual Italian and English version of her Sanremo runner-up entry "Nessun grado di separazione", which was titled "No Degree of Separation" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

As a member of the "Big 5", Italy automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 6, Italy placed sixteenth out of the 26 participating countries with 124 points.

Prior to the 2016 Contest, Italy had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-one times since its first entry during the inaugural contest in 1956. Since then, Italy has won the contest on two occasions: in 1964 with the song "Non ho l'età" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti and in 1990 with the song "Insieme: 1992" performed by Toto Cutugno. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. Their return in 2011 with the song "Madness of Love", performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placed second—their highest result, to this point, since their victory in 1990. In 2015, Il Volo represented the nation with the song "Grande Amore", obtaining third place.

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