02/06/26 01:41:00
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02/06 13:39 CST The Milan Cortina Olympics' opening ceremony begins with
Italian icons and Mariah Carey singing
The Milan Cortina Olympics' opening ceremony begins with Italian icons and
Mariah Carey singing
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP National Writer
MILAN (AP) --- Featuring tributes to da Vinci and Dante, Puccini and Pausini,
Armani and Fellini, pasta and vino, and other iconic tastes of Italian culture
--- plus Mariah Carey hitting all the high notes in "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu"
aka "Volare" --- an unprecedented four-site, dual-cauldron opening ceremony got
the Milan Cortina Olympics officially started Friday.
It didn't exactly feel like a Winter Games as the festivities began at the main
hub, Milan's San Siro soccer stadium, where the temperature was a tad below 50
degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) and the sky was a crisp, clear azure
all afternoon. Not a trace of clouds, let alone snow.
The Olympics returned to a nation that last hosted the sports spectacle 20
years ago. This, though, is the most spread-out Winter Games in history, with
competition venues dotting an area of about 8,500 square miles (more than
22,000 square kilometers), roughly the size of the entire state of New Jersey.
Aside from San Siro, which opened a century ago and is home to Serie A soccer
titans AC Milan and Inter Milan but is due to be razed and replaced in the next
few years, athletes were slated to march in three other places, some carrying
their country's flag: Cortina d'Ampezzo in the heart of the Dolomite mountains;
Livigno in the Alps; Predazzo in the autonomous province of Trento.
That allowed up-in-the-mountains sports such as Alpine skiing, bobsled, curling
and snowboarding to be represented in the Parade of Nations without requiring
folks to make the several-hours-long trek to Milan, the country's financial
capital.
For good measure, the Feb. 22 closing ceremony will be held in yet another
locale, Verona, where Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" was set.
Another symbol of how far-flung things are this time: Instead of the usual one
cauldron that is lit and burns throughout the Olympics, there will be two, both
intended as an homage to Leonardo da Vinci's geometric studies. One is in
Milan, 2 miles (4 kilometers) from San Siro, and the other is going to be 250
miles (400 kilometers) away in Cortina.
The people given the honor of lighting both following a ceremony expected to
last 2 1/2 hours was a closely guarded secret, as is usually the case at any
Olympics. At the 2006 Turin Games, it was Italian cross-country skier Stefania
Belmondo.
As Italy welcomed the world Friday by showing off its heritage, the show
produced by Olympic ceremony veteran Marco Balich began with dancers from the
academy of the famed Milan opera house Teatro alla Scala reimagining
18th-century sculptor Antonio Canova's marble works.
People wearing oversized, mascot-style heads representing opera composers
Giacomo Puccini, Gioachino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi appeared on the central
stage, before giant tubes of paint floated above and dropped silk of red, blue
and yellow --- the primary colors --- before an early parade of
various-color-wearing characters arrived in the stadium. They represented music
and art, literature and architecture, appreciations for beauty and history and,
above all, "La Dolce Vita" (loosely, Italian for "The Good Life" and the name
of a 1960 film by Federico Fellini).
There were references to ancient Rome, the Renaissance, the Venice Carnival and
the country's noted traditions in various areas such as cuisine and literature,
such as "Pinocchio" and Dante's "Inferno."
A runway walk showcased outfits --- created by the late fashion designer
Giorgio Armani, who died last year at 91 --- in the colors of Italy's flag:
red, green and white. And balladeer Laura Pausini sang Italy's national anthem.
Another local touch: Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, of "White Lotus"
fame, was to introduce a section that took viewers through a century of past
Olympics, with examples of evolving equipment, sportswear and music. And
actress and comedian Brenda Lodigiani was invited to demonstrate the popular
Italian hand gestures often used to communicate in place of words.
Plenty had been kept under wraps by organizers who said they sought to convey
themes of harmony and peace, seeking to represent the city-mountain dichotomy
of the particularly unusual setup for these Olympics while also trying to
appeal to a sense of unity at a time of global tensions.
Another unknown: What sort of reception would greet U.S. Vice President JD
Vance when he attended the ceremony in Milan? And what about the American
athletes?
When new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry was asked
this week what sort of greeting the U.S. delegation would get when they enter
San Siro in the Parade of Nations, she replied: "I hope the opening ceremony is
seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful."
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Associated Press writer Colleen Barry contributed to this report.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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