The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 was the 36th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 4 May 1991 at Stage 15 of the Cinecittà Studios in Rome, Italy, and presented by Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), who staged the event after winning the 1990 contest for Italy with the song "Insieme: 1992" by Cutugno. Cinquetti had also won the contest for Italy in 1964.

Broadcasters from twenty-two countries participated in the contest, with Malta making its first appearance in sixteen years, having last participated in 1975, while the Netherlands decided not to participate because the date of the event coincided with the country's Remembrance of the Dead commemorations. It was also the first time that Germany was represented as a single state following the reunification of East and West Germany.

For the first time since 1969, the contest resulted in a draw for first place, with both France and Sweden being awarded the same number of points. The contest's tie-break procedure was implemented for the first time in its history, which resulted in Sweden being declared the winner because its entry, "Fångad av en stormvind", written by Stephan Berg and performed by Carola, had received a greater number of top scores from the other competing countries than the French entry; it was Sweden's third win in the contest overall. Alongside France, Israel, Spain and Switzerland rounded out the top five.

The 1991 contest took place in Rome, Italy, following the country's victory at the 1990 contest with the song "Insieme: 1992", performed by Toto Cutugno. It was the second time that Italy had hosted the contest, following the 1965 event held in Naples. Prior to the conclusion of the 1990 contest, the EBU had considered the idea of only having the winner of the previous contest host an edition every second year, with the host broadcaster of odd numbered years being chosen through a bidding process. It is known that Belgrade and Amsterdam had shown interest in hosting the 1991 contest, but ultimately Italy was chosen to host after winning the contest. The chosen venue was Stage 15 of the Cinecittà Studios, the largest film studios in Europe which had previously been the filming location for a number of blockbuster American and Italian movies, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s.

The Italian organisers had originally intended that the contest be held in the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, where the annual Sanremo Music Festival is held. The Sanremo festival had been a major influence and inspiration for the formation of the Eurovision Song Contest, and RAI had wanted to pay tribute to the contest's origins by hosting the event in the town. The choice of Sanremo and Ariston as host of the event was initially rejected by the EBU, citing concerns regarding the size of the venue as well as organisational and security shortcomings. In an effort to address some of the concerns, the comune of Sanremo proposed hosting the event in three locations across the Ariston area, with the Teatro Ariston, Piazza Colombo and the old flower market on Corso Garibaldi being combined using temporary structures to form a single venue. Although plans to hold the contest in Sanremo continued to be developed as late as January 1991, by February doubts over the feasibility of holding the event in Sanremo became insurmountable, due to instability in the Middle East and the outbreak of the Gulf War, and ultimately the organisers opted to relocate the contest to a more secure location, eventually confirming on 18 February that the event would be held in Rome. Despite the relocation Sanremo remained a partner of the 1991 contest and pre-recorded footage of the city was featured during the live broadcast.

A total of twenty-two countries participated in the 1991 contest. Of the countries that participated in 1990, the Netherlands were the only country that failed to make a return, as the date of the contest clashed with the country's Remembrance of the Dead commemorations. Malta – which had last participated in the contest sixteen years before, in 1975 – ultimately filled the vacant slot. The nation had for a number of years attempted to make a return to the contest, however was prevented from doing so due to the cap on participation numbers set by the EBU. This marked the first time that Germany competed as a unified country, following the reunification of East and West Germany into a single state; until this point all German entrants in previous contests had represented the former West Germany.

Several artists that had previously competed in the contest returned to participate in this year's event: Stefán Hilmarsson [is], who competed alongside Eyjólfur Kristjánsson [is] for Iceland, was a member of Beathoven that had participated for the nation in 1988; Thomas Forstner made a second appearance for Austria following the 1989 contest; Carola also returned to the contest for the second time for Sweden after her participation in 1983; and the members of Norway's Just 4 Fun [no] featured two previous participating artists, namely Eiríkur Hauksson, who had competed in the 1986 for Iceland as part of the group ICY, and Hanne Krogh, who had represented Norway twice before, in 1971 as a solo artist and in 1985 as a member of the group Bobbysocks!, the latter appearance ultimately winning the contest outright. Additionally, Kit Rolfe performed as backing vocalist for the United Kingdom's Samantha Janus, having previously been lead vocalist of the group Belle and the Devotions that had represented the UK at the 1984 contest.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 was produced by the Italian public broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). Silvia Salvetti served as executive producer, Riccardo Donna [it] served as director, Luciano Ricceri served as designer, and Bruno Canfora served as musical director leading an assembled orchestra of 57 musicians. A separate musical director could be nominated by each participating delegation to lead the orchestra during its country's performance, with the host musical director also available to conduct for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor. On behalf of the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Frank Naef as scrutineer.