MILAN/CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Italy launched the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics with what organizers called the most geographically dispersed opening in Games history: one ceremony shared across multiple venues and crowned by the simultaneous lighting of two Olympic cauldrons — one at Milan’s Arco della Pace and the other in Cortina’s Piazza Dibona.
The ceremony, staged at San Siro under the theme Armonia (“Harmony”), blended city spectacle with Alpine identity. Athletes paraded at four locations closest to their competition sites, a first designed to cut travel across the sprawling northern Italy footprint. Organizers later reported record attendance, with more than 61,000 tickets sold in San Siro and about 10,000 additional spectators watching from other locations.
Italy’s cultural signatures were front and center. Performers paid homage to opera and fashion traditions, and the program included a tribute to late designer Giorgio Armani. U.S. singer Mariah Carey performed “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” (“Volare”), while tenor Andrea Bocelli’s appearance drew a warm reception in the stadium.
President Sergio Mattarella formally declared the Games open after IOC President Kirsty Coventry urged athletes and viewers to find unity in sport, saying the Olympics can remind people “that we can be brave … kind … [and] get back up, no matter how hard we fall.”
But political undercurrents punctured the celebratory mood. U.S. Vice President JD Vance was jeered when shown on the stadium screen, even as Team USA received applause during the parade. Reuters also reported protests in Milan over the presence of U.S. personnel linked to agencies under ICE’s parent structure. Italian authorities said ICE officers would not operate on Italian streets during the Games, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said no ICE agents were providing Team USA security.
The opening also echoed broader geopolitical tensions: Reuters reported booing during the Israeli team announcement in Milan (with cheers in Cortina), and loud support for Ukraine’s delegation.
