Winter Olympics officially open in Milan, Cortina with historic dual cauldron lighting

The 2026 Winter Olympics officially began yesterday with a sparkling ceremony at the San Siro Stadium, accompanied by festivities at Games venues across the snow-capped Italian Alps. The event reflects the most geographically widespread Olympics in history.

The ceremony’s organizers worked tirelessly to convey themes of harmony and peace, seeking to reconcile the city-mountain duality unique to this Olympic setup.

Meanwhile, performers at the San Siro wore outsized heads of the three great masters of Italian opera-Gisuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini-while American pop star Mariah Carey, wearing a white dress with feathers, sang “Volare” in Italian.

In this regard, Italian President Sergio Mattarella declared the Games open after International Olympic chief Kirsty Coventry stated : “You remind us that we can be brave, that we can be kind, that we can get back up, no matter how hard we fall.”

The full collection of competition open venues for the next two-plus weeks dot an area of more than 22,000 square kilometres.

The enchanting views and multi-city ceremony allowed in the mountains sports-such as Alpine, skiing, bobsled, and snowboarding to be represented without requiring athletes and fans to make the several-hour Trek to Milan.