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MILAN (AP) — An extraordinary Winter Olympics is set to commence on Friday with a four-location, dual-cauldron opening ceremony that pays homage to Italian cultural icons and features American pop sensation Mariah Carey. This event marks the return of the Winter Games to Italy, a country that last hosted the Olympics two decades ago.
These Milan Cortina Games are unique for being the most geographically extensive Olympics ever, spanning approximately 8,500 square miles—an area comparable to the entire state of New Jersey.
The primary celebrations will unfold at Milan’s historic San Siro stadium, a century-old venue that currently serves as the home ground for Serie A powerhouses AC Milan and Inter Milan. This stadium is slated for demolition and replacement in the coming years. Athletes will also have the opportunity to participate in the opening festivities at three additional sites: Cortina d’Ampezzo nestled in the Dolomite mountains, Livigno in the Alps, and Predazzo in the autonomous province of Trento.
This arrangement allows athletes competing in mountainous disciplines such as Alpine skiing, bobsledding, curling, and snowboarding to join the Parade of Nations without enduring the lengthy journey to and from Milan, Italy’s bustling financial hub.
To add to the grandeur, the closing ceremony on February 22 will take place in Verona, famously known as the setting for Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
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, 2½ miles from San Siro, and the other is going to be 250 miles away in Cortina.
The people given the honor of lighting both were a closely guarded secret, as is usually the case at any Olympics. At the Turin Winter Games in 2006, it was Italian cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo.
Other links to Italy’s heritage scheduled to be a part of Friday’s festivities include a performance by tenor Andrea Bocelli; classically trained dancers from the academy of the famed Milan opera house, Teatro alla Scala; a tribute to the late fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died last year at 91. Armani designed the Olympic and Paralympic uniforms for the Italian national team for decades, and was a personal friend of the former president of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò.
Plenty more planned for Friday was being 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.”