Milano Cortina holding final rehearsals for grand opening of 2026 Winter Games
Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics - Opening ceremony rehearsals - Milan, Italy - January 28, 2026 Volunteer dancers rehearse during preparations for the opening ceremony inside a temporary structure next to San Siro stadium ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo
MILAN, Jan 29 : Inside a temporary rehearsal compound next to Milan's historic San Siro stadium, the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics is taking shape as hundreds of professional dancers and volunteers polish the final details of the global event.
Over 1,300 performers, including around 1,200 volunteers from 27 countries, have been preparing for months in the tent.
But with just a week to go before the curtain rises on February 6, rehearsals are about to shift from the compound into the soccer arena itself.
San Siro, however, will not be the only stage of the show.
Sharing the global spotlight with the Lombardy capital Milan will be several other ski resorts across northern Italy: co-host Cortina d'Ampezzo, Livigno in Valtellina and Predazzo in the Trento province, marking the first "widespread ceremony" in the history of the Games.
Creative director Marco Balich, a veteran of Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies including the opening of the 2006 Turin Winter Games, has built a show around the Greek concept of "harmony," understood as the meeting of city and mountains, man and nature, and the many cultures that share the Olympic space.
"Twenty years on from Turin, it's a different country and a different world," Balich said.
"Today, we want to show that Italy, though small, has influenced global habits through design, fashion and food. With this ceremony we want to acknowledge that legacy, and also use the Olympic stage to renew the message of peace and of shared human values."
"WE HAVE PUSHED 'ITALIANNESS' AS FAR AS WE COULD"
The show will celebrate Italian history, culture and identity in a contemporary and playful key.
"The ceremony should also make people smile," Maria Laura Iascone, Director of Ceremonies for the Milano Cortina Foundation organising committee, told Reuters during a tour of the rehearsal tent.
Costumes will be central to conveying Italy's cultural roots, an especially fitting choice in Milan, one of Europe's fashion capitals. Designer Massimo Cantini Parrini has overseen the creation of more than 1,400 costumes, produced under tight deadlines since last August.
"We've pushed 'Italianness' as far as we could," he said as he walked through the vast wardrobe area, adding that the designs draw more on historical references than contemporary trends. Also, a special tribute will honour the late fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died in 2025.
The journey through Italian history will include tributes to towering figures such as Leonardo da Vinci and Christopher Columbus. Although the latter has become a divisive figure, Iascone said that "everything will be treated in a light and elegant way, with no intention to provoke."
PARADES AND PROTOCOLS
Music will take centre stage with Andrea Bocelli, Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini and Italian rapper Ghali leading a roster of international artists. In the stands, dozens of heads of state and government will attend, including the U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Italian President Sergio Mattarella will receive a special tribute, one of the night's several moments the organisers are keeping under wraps.
Holding the attention of billions of viewers for a two‑and‑a‑half‑hour live show is a core challenge in an era dominated by 60‑second clips.
Balich said the answer lay in "Italian‑made emotion."
"We celebrate, in spectacular ways, clear values that unite and move people," he said. As for whether that would stop viewers from glancing at their phones, he added with a hint of irony: "Impossible to say."
Alongside the spectacle, the opening ceremony will include all the key moments required by the IOC protocol, from the celebration of peace to the parade of delegations, which will unfold in an unprecedented format due to the multi-venue structure.
Athletes will march in the prescribed alphabetical order. However, delegations will be divided across the four locations to reduce travel demands. Television direction will weave the different locations into a seamless narrative.
Also for the first time in Olympic history, two cauldrons - one at Milan's Arco della Pace and one in Cortina's Piazza Dibona - will be lit simultaneously.
"That moment will be a spectacle within the spectacle, paying tribute to the sacredness of the flame," Iascone said.
The event will likely serve as a final, historic curtain call for San Siro, as the stadium is set eventually to be decommissioned once a new arena is completed.
On this farewell night, the arena "will not echo with football chants, but with the emotion of the Olympic spirit," the director said.
