Milan, like Turin, twenty years later, lit up the torch at the last minute. Because yes, the Olympics is by definition something that lights up and needs a trigger, for a city to raise its head from its daily thoughts and realize that something is about to happen: especially in relatively large cities only partly crossed by Olympic venues which do not pervade everything, the Olympic spirit starts quietly.
Until a few days ago in Milan the impression was that outside of the flag-flagged spaces, all in all not so flashy, nor so numerous, everything went on as usual, almost without realizing that an event of global importance was upon us. In the imminence it seemed to be perceived above all inconveniences to be calculated, red zones, armored areas, missed metro stops.
But then something changed on February 5th, when like lizards (thanks to a ray of sunshine) people little by little secretly poured into the streets at the passage of the torch carrying the Olympic flame towards the opening ceremony: a long snake of people, thin, because they spread out to see, but in the end numerous, left their homes, offices, and came down to wait for the passage of the Olympic flame expected in San Siro and at the Arco della Pace on the evening of February 6, with the feeling of wanting to be present at a moment that was nevertheless unique: ladies impatient to see and worried about having someone in front of them, children with their arm for selfies, something that didn’t exist in Turin 2006, Tricolor flags, people on the balconies.
As if suddenly the citizens had realized that something was about to happen, that from tomorrow Milan, a city of the plains, in itself not a place for the Winter Olympics, will cease to be simply Milan for 17 days, but will become the first section of Milan Cortina 2026, which is the unique time of a place that for two weeks becomes something else in itself and for better or for worse the center of the world. Only time will tell if, as in Turin, the passing flame will be the trigger of a positive contagion that spread during the Games, coloring the grey. We will find out by living, starting tomorrow when the Tripod turns on.
