The Milan Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympics is the official program accompanying the Olympic and Paralympic Games, recognized by the IOC as one of the three pillars of the Olympic Movement together with sport and education.
Not a centralized event, but a dynamic and widespread container that involves territories, institutions and communities, with the aim of enhancing the Italian cultural heritage and promoting Olympic values through art, history and participation, with the ambition of leaving a lasting legacy beyond the time of the Games.
The program is divided into six thematic axes that guide cultural planning
Sport, art, history and culture: valorisation of Games through artistic languages.
Active communities: social involvement and personal growth.
Territory and lifestyle: outdoor activities and sustainability.
Inclusion, diversity and empowerment: attention to disability, gender and cultural plurality.
Peace and Olympic Truce: promotion of dialogue and integration.
The organization involves local, national and international bodies, including the cities of Milan and Cortina, the Lombardy and Veneto Regions, the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano, and various Ministries. The Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation leads the process with the support of a panel of experts and a network of cultural partners.
Below are the scheduled events, locations and dates
. • BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi, Milan (September 2025 – June 2026) Outdoor music, dance and wellness programme.
• Get over yourself (September 2025) Street art work created by street artist Camilla Ginesi in via Pepeselected through the Visa Street Artist Contest for the “Get Over Yourself” campaign.
• Sport – The challenges of the body (01 November 2025 – 22 March 2026)
• Rovati Foundation – The Olympic Games. A 3000 year long history – museum spaces of the Foundation, Milan (26 November 2025 – 22 March 2026) Exhibition dedicated to the origins of the Games, from the Greek roots to the Etruscan reception. In collaboration with the Musée Olympique and the MCAH of Lausanne.
• Teatro Sociale di Como – Como (season 2025–2026) “Fairplay” billboard with shows dedicated to sport and Olympic values.
• A Mountain of Books – Cortina d’Ampezzo (winter 2025–2026) Literary festival with focus on sport, mountains and storytelling.
• Slava’s snowshow. Slava Ponunin – Teatro Strehler, Milan (28 January 2026 – 22 February 2026) Masterpiece by the famous Russian clown Slava Polunin, a poetic and surreal theatrical experience that transforms the theater into a snowy landscape.
• Team Game-Campogrande – Auditorium of Milan Fondazione Cariplo (Friday 30 January at 8.00 pm and Sunday 01 February at 4.00 pm) First performance of “Gioco diquadra” for orchestra by Nicola Campogrande; Commission of the Milan Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, as part of the 2025/2026 Symphony Season.
• Orobea Games – Giorgio Gaber Lyric Theatre, Milan (4 February) A new contemporary work inspired by the values of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
• First Love – Teatro Strehler, Milan (04 February 2026 – 15 February 2026) Show that intertwines autobiography, sport and Olympic memory. Inspired by Stefania Belmondo’s legendary race in Salt Lake City 2002 and included in the Milan Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympics, it celebrates the meeting between art and sport.
• Latvian Rocket – Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber, Milan (07 February 2026) Show celebrating the legendary Latvian bobsledders, combining dance, images and sport.
• Anselm Kiefer – Palazzo Reale, Milan (February 2026) Site-specific installation dedicated to the Olympic Truce.
• Chiharu Shiota & The Sense of Snow – Mudec, Milan (12 February 2026 – 28 June 2026) Exhibition on the meaning of snow between art, anthropology and science, with reflection on climate change.
• Giovanni Segantini – Civic Museum, Bassano del Grappa (25 October 2025 – 22 February 2026) Exhibition on the Alpine landscape and spirituality.
• White Out. The Future of Winter Sport – Triennale Milano (28 January – 29 March 2026) The exhibition will be the heart of the program that Triennale Milano has organized on the occasion of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
• Sports. The challenges of the body – MART (01 November 2025 – 22 March 2026) A thematic journey spanning more than two and a half millennia, with over 300 ancient, modern and contemporary works of art, celebrates the most extraordinary dimension of the human body.
• What We Carry – Museion Bolzano (13 November 2025 – 29 March 2026) A collection of 43 torches will be displayed at the Museion, spanning a period of almost ninety years.
• MC ESCHER Between art and science – MUDEC Museum of Cultures (25 September 2025 – 8 February 2026) After ten years of absence, MUDEC brings back to Milan one of the most fascinating and recognizable artists of the twentieth century, Maurits Cornelis Escher (Holland, 1898–1972) with a major project entirely dedicated to him which offers a new look at his artistic career.
• ChiharuShiota. The Moment the Snow Melts – MUDEC Museum of Cultures (19 November 2025 – 28 June 2026) Site-specific installation that transforms the Agora space into an evanescent landscape of wires hanging vertically from the ceiling. Among these threads float notes and slips of paper with the names of the people who have been part of our lives, but who, for various reasons, we can no longer meet.
• The meaning of snow – MUDEC Museum of Cultures (12 February – 28 June 2026) A multidisciplinary exhibition which, in dialogue with the Olympic theme, explores snow as a natural, cultural and artistic phenomenon: the scientific analysis of snow crystals is intertwined with shamanism; paintings of European snowy landscapes dialogue with enchanting Japanese prints; contemporary art reflects on climate change and overtourism.
•Performance – Connecting links – Competition– Le Gallerie, Trento (6 February 2025 – 6 January 2026) Exploration of sport and technology in an artistic key
• Curtain of stars. Limits do not exist – Lagazuoi EXPO, Cortina (03/01/2026 – 28/03/2026) Final exhibition of the project Limits do not exist by Fulvio Morellahosted at the Lagazuoi EXPO Dolomiti at 2,732 meters. In one of the symbolic places of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics, the artist presents the luminous sculptures of the Braillight cycle together for the first time, works designed to also be experienced through touch and light.
• The Fans – Anterselva Biathlon Stadium (6/02/2026 – 22/02/2026) UNIKA wooden sculptures portray fans exhibited in Anterselva during the Olympics.
• Bianca Emozioni from the Salce Collection “In harmony with winter: nature, sport and health. A widespread itinerary in the national museums of the Veneto – Salce Collection National Museum of Treviso (21/11/2025 – 29/03/2026) The Alpine winter told through iconic historical posters –
• Olympus – The origins of the game. Venice Carnival 2026 – Venice (01/31/2026 – 02/17/2026)
• Little bear and the ice mountain. First Overall. – Teatro Malibran Venice (30/01/2026) The participatory opera for children makes its debutcombining music, storytelling and science on a European tour
• #slip. The slide between tradition, play and competition – Ethnographic Museum of Belluno (30/01/2026 – 30/04/2026) Snow and sled exhibition explores Alpine traditions and Olympic disciplines.
The program is constantly being enriched and updates can be followed here: https://www.olympics.com/it/milano-cortina-2026/i-nostri-progetti/olimpiade-culturale
