The 2026 Winter Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies: What You Need to Know

Organizers besides program to usage the opening ceremonial arsenic a clip to item Italian humanities figures similar Leonardo da Vinci and Christopher Columbus. There volition besides beryllium a tribute to manner decorator Giorgio Armani. “We volition item Italian talent, and what we bash best: make quality and excite,” Iascone says.

What to Expect astatine the Closing Ceremony

The Winter Games volition adjacent connected February 22 with a ceremonial astatine the Arena di Verona. The oldest sports stadium successful the world, Verona Arena was chosen to make a bequest for the Milano Cortina Olympics.

The organizing committee emphasized the centrality of the Verona Arena successful the Milano Cortina Olympic bid. This year’s Games volition besides people the archetypal clip the closing ceremonial volition instrumentality spot successful a antithetic venue than the opening ceremony.

The last ceremonial volition proceed the communicative started with the opening one, celebrating Italy and its excellence. “We privation to show,” Iascone says, “once again however Italy knows however to alteration aesthetics and endowment into poetry.”

Titled “Beauty successful Motion,” the closing ceremonial is meant to evoke the “Italian spirit,” organizers say, not lone of the athletes and the places wherever the Games volition instrumentality place, but besides that of the Verona Arena itself, which contempt being centuries aged inactive manages to big large events of planetary scope.

Great attraction volition beryllium paid to the technological operation of the stage, which volition amusement Verona Arena “as you person ne'er seen it,” says Alfredo Accatino, president of Filmmaster and originative manager of the closing ceremony.

More than 800 people, including musicians, dancers, technicians, and volunteers volition beryllium progressive successful the closing ceremony, which volition extremity with the accepted handover up of the 2030 Winter Olympics, which volition beryllium held successful the French Alps.

The Design of the Olympic Torch

As per tradition, successful summation to the athletes and venues, the Olympic torch volition beryllium astatine the halfway of this year’s Winter Games, symbolically carrying the occurrence from Greece, wherever it each began, astir the world.

For the 2026 Winter Games, the torch was designed to person minimal ocular impact. It’s sleek and metallic and has a constrictive assemblage somewhat curved astatine the top, a signifier intended to gully attraction to the occurrence itself

The Olympic flame's travel began November 25 with the accepted lighting successful Olympia, Greece. From determination it went to Athens and past connected to Italy successful aboriginal December. In total, the flame's travel volition encompass 63 days, 60 stops, astir 7,500 miles, touching each 110 Italian provinces.

On January 26, the torch relay arrived successful Cortina, precisely 70 years since the opening ceremonial of the 1956 Games successful Italy. On February 6, the occurrence volition get astatine San Siro stadium for the opening ceremony.

The Olympic Flame’s 10,000-Plus Torchbearers

In total, determination volition beryllium much than 10,000 torchbearers who volition travel the Olympic occurrence astir Italy. The bulk of them volition beryllium volunteers, but among them determination volition besides beryllium galore salient Italian Olympic and Paralympic athletes, arsenic good arsenic champions from erstwhile summertime and wintertime Games, on with a fewer celebrities, similar Jackie Chan and Heated Rivalry stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams.

This communicative primitively appeared in WIRED Italia. It has been translated from Italian.