The last lights of a major event that will be turned on in San Siro on 6 February 2026 will be those of the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Olympicsbefore the stadium gives way to its successor, but they will have the duty to shine for twenty years.
Presented in the heart of San Siro, precisely, with the formula of a “Verso… the opening ceremony” on 16 October, therefore with the commitment to reveal, yes, but only the indispensable minimum, because, he repeats Marco Balich, creative mind of the Olympic ceremoniesrevealing a Christmas present in October would mean ruining the taste of the surprise, because the surprise of the opening ceremony is the greatest show of the next twenty years.
What this estimate means is explained by Giovanni Malagò, former president of Coni, still president of Fondazione Milano Cortina: «It will give us a unique opportunity to make ourselves known to the world»: if it is true that the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics is worth «2 billion contacts if it goes badly, but if it goes well it will be over 2.5 billion».
The emotion for this first public release of the ceremony is felt, the adjective “iconic” is wasted. “We are excited,” he admits Andrea Varnier Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Foundation, «because the ceremony, being the front door, the event that the whole world remembers, which defines the edition and underlines its spirit, is a great opportunity but also a great responsibility, due to the size of spectators, volunteers, dignitaries, it is the one that most engages the organization at all levelsa very delicate moment of trial. If everything goes well then the rest is easier.”
Milan Cortina and this is the news, it will be the first “widespread” Olympic ceremony in the world: “a moral obligation to hold the most significant protocol moments in the two cities twice: there will be two braziers, one in Milan at the Arco della Pace, the other in Cortina in Piazza Dibona. And for the first time, in the history of TV, all the athletes, even if they have the race the next day”, explains Varnier, “will be able to participate because they will parade where they are: in Milan, Cortina, Bormio, Livigno, Predazzo. While TV will give the idea that they are all together
The key word will be harmonythe only image revealed for the moment is a diagram of a spiral design stage fed by four ramps, which evoke the territories of the Olympics spread across the Alps from Milan to Cortina, passing through Valtellina, Val di Fiemme to finally end at the Verona Arena, the oldest operational stadium in the world, which will host the Olympic closing ceremony and the Paralympic opening ceremony. Also because, they admit, “otherwise with such large distances, limiting it to Milan, too many athletes would have been excluded”.
The standard-bearer, they assure, will not necessarily have to be in Milan, but as a precaution Italy has obtained, as host country, four of them, two male and two female athletes. «At widespread ceremonies», he says Maria Laura Iascone, director of Ceremonies«thousands of people will work together and the story must ensure that it tells the value of sport and Italy’s ability to create beauty: we will have to tell Italy in its thousand-year history, we will evoke Leonardo, the great explorers, Christopher Columbus, giving the right tribute to art, fashion, design, to show the world how Italy has always transformed tradition into avant-garde».
And speaking of fashion, it could not and will not be missingthe tribute to Giorgio Armaniwho recently passed away, the designer who, as he always did, designed all the Azzurri’s uniforms.
«Harmony”, says Marco Balich, “is a Greek word Ἁρμnονία, which means putting together, consonance of elements. It will be a journey into the true colors of Italy, its art, its creativity, its humanity, which celebrates the athletes we want at the centre, because they are the true “celebrities”. Even if they later came out in the names of two of the guests of honor: one, the most important and necessary, the President of the Republic Sergio Matterella, called by protocol to declare the Olympic Games open, the other the actress Matilda De Angelis.
Overall a game within the Games he collected just under five hundred thousand dollars from sponsors and which weighs, Malagò estimates, «for the 4% of the Olympic budget, even if compared to those who preceded us we return to a more human dimension.”
“We are ready with the works even if we have to do until the last day to decorate the city with flags”, explains the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala, present with the President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana, «now we need to involve, warm up the city».
