Over 2,000 kilometers across Italy, 501 torchbearers involved and 10 days where cities and communities will come alive with Flame Festivals and Flame Visits, celebratory events capable of bringing a strong and shared message of unity and inclusion to the country. The path of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympic Flame develops with a length and well-defined objectives. The journey will come to life on February 24th and will culminate on March 6th at the Verona Arenawhich will host the Opening Ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics and will kick off the largest sporting event in the world for people with disabilities.
The Flame will be lit on February 24th in Stoke Mandeville, UK. Outside Italy but with a specific reason given that the country across the Channel is known for being the historical cradle of the Paralympic Movement. From here a journey will begin that will tell how sport can be a driver of change. The Paralympic Flame will in fact make its return to Italy, arriving in Turin on the same day, the first stop on its national journey. Another mission is to pay homage to the Paralympic history of the country, from the first edition of the Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960 up to Turin 2006when Italy hosted the Winter Paralympics for the first time, marking a fundamental step in promoting inclusion through sport.
Until March 2nd the Flame will travel through the five scheduled Flame Festivals: Turin (24 February), Milan (25 February), Bolzano (27 February), Trento (28 February) and Trieste (2 March). Each stage will represent an opportunity to celebrate the Paralympic community and its values.
The so-called Flame Visits will also increase the richness of the events throughout Italy, a series of meetings in the square that Allianz and Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 have also organized in Central and Southern Italywith four stops scheduled for February 26th in Rome, February 27th in Bari, March 2nd in Naples and March 3rd in Bologna. Also on March 3, the five Flames from the Flame Festivals will arrive in Cortina d’Ampezzo (another crucial stage of the Olympic event) converging in the evocative Union Ceremony and giving life to a single Paralympic Flame.
After the aforementioned ceremony on March 4th the Flame will travel the streets of Auronzo di Cadore, Pieve di Cadore, Longarone, Belluno, Treviso and Mestre, until reaching Venice, where the first stage celebration will be held, transforming the passage into a moment of meeting and sharing with citizens, schools and associations. On March 5th it will continue its journey through Castelfranco Veneto, Asolo, Bassano del Grappa, Thiene and Vicenza, until reaching Padua for the second stage celebration, bringing enthusiasm and participation throughout the Veneto. Finally, on 6 March, after passing through Monselice, Rovigo, Legnago, Nogara and Isola della Scala, the Flame will conclude its journey at the Verona Arena, theater of the Opening Ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. For the first time a UNESCO site will host the opening of the Paralympics, writing a new page in the history of the Games.
Accompanying the Paralympic Flame at both an organizational and moral level will also be Allianz, Global Insurance Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements since 2021 and committed since 2006 with the International Paralympic Committee for the promotion of inclusiveness and resilience. «Allianz supports the Paralympic Flame Journey to Italy as a Presenting Partnerto promote and bring more and more people closer to the values of the Paralympic Movement that the Allianz Group has supported since 2006″, he remarked Giacomo CamporaCEO of Allianz SpA
Various institutions then lined up at the forefront during the presentation of the route, sending important messages. «The Journey of the Paralympic Flame tells the story of the deepest legacy of the Games: the cultural and social one. Each stage will be an opportunity to celebrate sport as a force capable of uniting communities, promoting inclusion and looking to the future with trust and responsibility, bringing the values of the Paralympic Movement to Italy” he underlined Giovanni Malagòpresident of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation. «It is a path that speaks to the entire country, which involves territories, institutions and citizens in a great collective embrace. The Flame will become the symbol of an Italy that believes in merit, courage and the ability to overcome every limitpaying homage to the athletes who embody these extraordinary values every day.”
Maria is of the same opinion Laura IasconeDirector of the Ceremonies of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation: «The Journey of the Paralympic Flame is a story in motion, a luminous thread that unites territories, stories and people. Each stage is designed as a moment of authentic encounter, capable of leaving a mark and broadening the embrace of the Paralympic Games with a contemporary, exciting and deeply human language. The Paralympic Flame brings with it shared values and a profound sense of belonging: we want each stage to leave a memory that continues to live beyond the passage of the Flame.”
