I am not really one to watch sports, even though they are on constantly at my house, except for the occasional Eagles game and whenever Italy is in the World Cup. But there’s something about the Olympics that has me glued to the TV every night. It’s probably the only time that hearing the Star Spangled Banner gets me a little misty.
So when I learned that Cortina d’Ampezzo was hosting the 2026 Winter Games, I knew I needed to spend a few days there during my trip to the Dolomites. I figured that seeing it in person and soaking up the atmosphere would give a little extra zip to my enjoyment watching the games two years from now.
Cortina has always loomed large as the host of the 1956 Winter Olympics, the first where television allowed the games to be watched around the world. At those games, 32 nations competed in 24 events in four sports. Seventy years later, more than 3,000 athletes from nearly 100 countries are expected to compete in 116 events in sixteen disciplines in eight sports.
These days, Cortina is abuzz with construction projects, in both the athletic venues and the town itself. Hotels are being gutted and restored, roads repaired, and luge tracks built.
Cortina is a charming, upscale resort town, with high-end shopping and fancy restaurants. But it seemed impossible to me that it could accommodate even the American delegation, not to mention the rest of the world and the wide array of Olympic events. And it turns out that it won’t.
A little research revealed that while the games are officially known as Milano-Cortina 2026, the events will be spread among seven different northern and northeastern Italian towns. Only the ”sliding events” will be in Cortina, and even that was touch and go when the cost of building the track went so over budget it was almost abandoned and those events moved elsewhere. Ultimately, they stuck with Cortina as an homage to the historic ‘56 games.
The opening ceremony will be in the giant San Siro stadium in Milan, where I saw Bruce Springsteen in 2016, and the closing one in the Coliseum-like arena in Verona, famous for its open-air summertime operas.
As I will not be in Cortina for the Olympics, I’m glad I had the chance to see it now. I’ll be watching it on TV, along with Cortina’s citizens, who I imagine will clear out of town, to avoid the incredible hassle and to rent their homes out for a fortune.
Gigi's Italia 