Starting this week, all eyes are on Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics. While a few events have already taken place, the Games officially kick off on February 6 and wrap up February 22. They will be followed by the Paralympics, which will be held March 6 to 15.
The Olympic flame will arrive in Milan on February 5 before heading to San Siro stadium for the opening ceremonies on Friday. During the Games, there will be two Olympic flame cauldrons, one in Arco della Pace in Milan and another in downtown Cortina. The flame will also be at the Verona Olympic Arena for the closing ceremonies.
What to Expect at the Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony, says Milano Cortina Olympics managing director Andrea Varnier, “represents the gateway to the Olympics, everyone remembers it and it defines the spirit of the Games.”
In 2024, for the Summer Olympics in Paris, the opening ceremony floated down the Seine. This year’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony will also forgo a single stadium setting and take place in multiple locations simultaneously. In addition to Milan, athletes will also parade in Cortina, Livigno, and Predazzo.
This choice was designed both to celebrate the fact that these Olympics are “spread out” and not concentrated solely in one place (this is the first time this has happened) and then to allow athletes who have competitions on the day following the ceremony to participate equally, which, given the distances, would otherwise not be possible.
This time around the Olympic flames will be spread out, too. One cauldron will be at the Arco della Pace in Milan and another will be lit in Piazza Dibona in downtown Cortina.
This widespread format represents “a new example that will be replicated in the future and will make us forerunners,” says opening ceremony director Maria Laura Iascone.
Olympics opening ceremonies are typically huge spectacles full of dancing, special effects, and music. Celine Dion performed on the Eiffel Tower to open the 2024 Summer Games. Friday’s ceremony will last for several hours and presumably be seen by hundreds of millions of viewers. About 4,000 people will be involved, including extras, technicians, designers, and volunteers.
The details of the ceremony’s spectacle have mostly been kept secret. The creative director, Marco Balich, president of the Balich Wonder Studio, has said that the general theme is “harmony,” a symbol of the union between the city and the mountains, between nature and humans, and a reference to the dual location of the Games.