Figure skating and ice hockey in Milan, capital of fashion. Skiing in the charming resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo. Opening ceremony at the San Siro stadium, home of Milan and Inter Milan, and closing ceremony in Verona, city of Romeo and Juliet.
Combining culture, history and beauty, Italy will host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games that will begin on February 6 and March 6, 2026, respectively. Glamor aside, the edition indicates a new path for the biggest multi-sport event on the planet, with 3,500 athletes from 90 countries.
“We need a realistic approach. These will be different Games to what you have seen in the past,” said Andrea Varnier, executive director of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee.
“The trips will be long and complicated,” he said. “It does not mean hosting in an impoverished or frugal way, but rather an effort to make modern Games that respect essential principles in any public debate.”
The model is part of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) “Agenda 2020”, with recommendations for Games hosts, including encouraging them to build less. In Paris-2024, 95% of sports facilities were previously existing or temporary.
If the 2014 Winter Games, in Sochi, were held in two areas 30 minutes apart and the construction of 11 arenas, the 2026 ones will be the most spread out in history, over 22 thousand square kilometers in northern Italy. Of the 14 competition locations, 12 already exist or will be temporary.
Milan will host the opening and “indoor” sports; the snow ones will be in three regions in the mountains, including Cortina d’Ampezzo. The Olympic closing and Paralympic opening will take place in an amphitheater built almost 2,000 years ago, in Verona.
“It’s not that we have Games spread out because we want to make everyone’s life difficult, nor ours,” Varnier told Sheet.
“The new approach is to adapt the Games to what we already have, rather than the other way around. We identify existing facilities, passion and experience about that sport. In Milan, it’s ice sports. In the mountains, we went to where the best ski slope was alpine, the best place for biathlon in the world, where tracks already existed.
The Games gain in sustainability and bring a logistical challenge. The report was on a visit promoted by the Organizing Committee to sports facilities. The country’s four competition regions are, on average, 300 km apart. Getting from Milan to Cortina by train, for example, takes around five hours. Travel between villages is on narrow mountain roads. During the Games, access to cars will be limited.
According to the Organizing Committee, the total cost of the Games is €5.1 billion (R$32.8 billion, at current prices), with €3.5 billion (R$22.5 billion) in public funds, mostly for infrastructure, such as roads and trains, and €1.6 billion (R$10.3 billion) in private investments.
The reconstruction of a former bobsled, skeleton and luge center in Cortina d’Ampezzo at a cost of €118 million (R$759 million) has generated controversy. Organizers considered using an existing track in a neighboring country, but backed away. At the time, the international bobsled and skeleton federation and the IOC expressed concern about values, construction deadlines and athlete safety.
Nicola Pech, vice-president of the NGO Mountain Wilderness Italy, questions the environmental impact of the event.
“The fragile balance of the Alpine ecosystem will be further compromised by new sports facilities, artificial snow. An anachronism in the era of global warming,” Pech told Sheet. “It’s unsustainable for the Alps region, which can’t handle more concrete, roads, ski resorts.”
“We looked at all the options,” Varnier explained. “Going to an existing location outside the country, when hosting the Games, generates a series of complications that go beyond the distances we have here. And the costs are very high in the end. And it makes more sense to have the athletes there [em Cortina]providing a better experience for them.”
In December, organizers announced the milestone of 70,000 people signing up for the volunteer program. This month, Italy is expected to be confirmed as host of the 2028 Winter Youth Olympic Games.
