Milano Cortina 2026 lights up San Siro: the Opening Ceremony will be a hymn to Harmony

San Siro is ready to become the beating heart of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. On 6 February, Milan's iconic stadium will host an Opening Ceremony conceived as a great collective story, guided by a keyword: Harmony. A theme that takes shape in images, sounds and emotions, putting nature and city, tradition and future, art and innovation in dialogue.

The show promises to be a journey into Italian creativity, capable of combining the evocative power of history with a contemporary and inclusive vision. Harmony thus becomes the common thread of a narrative that celebrates the identity of the country, its widespread talent and the ability to build bonds, inside and outside sport.

A choral story of Italian style

The Ceremony develops as a choral fresco: design, music, elegance and imagination are intertwined in a story that looks at Leonardo and the great inventors, but also at young people, athletes and those who build the future. Each element is designed to convey an image of Italy that is open, dynamic and capable of speaking to the world through universal languages.

Matilda De Angelis, an Italian actress of international scope, chosen to embody a contemporary talent who naturally dialogues with the global audience, will also give voice to this narrative.

Behind the show, a team of high-profile creatives led by Marco Balich and the Balich Wonder Studio team, a guarantee of a spectacular and engaging staging. Artistic direction, music, costumes and scenography combine to build an immersive experience, designed to leave a mark on the collective memory.

Within the story there is also a special tribute to Giorgio Armani, an emblematic figure of Italian style in the world, a symbol of rigor, creativity and elegance, values that dialogue deeply with the Olympic spirit.

A widespread ceremony, like the Games

Consistent with the polycentric model of Milano Cortina 2026, the Opening Ceremony goes beyond the boundaries of the stadium to become widespread. All athletes will have the opportunity to participate in the most iconic moment of the Games, living a shared experience that unites Milan, Cortina, Valtellina and Val di Fiemme in a single story.

The stage of San Siro also reflects this vision: a scenographic structure designed to symbolically connect the Olympic territories, transforming the stadium into a meeting point between landscapes, communities and different histories.

The first big hug of the Games

The Opening Ceremony on 6 February 2026 promises to be the first great global embrace of Milano Cortina: a moment capable of combining sport, culture and national identity in an accessible and shared language. Because Harmony, more than a theme, becomes a message: what unites, inspires and builds the future.

The final look: the Closing Ceremony at the Arena di Verona

After the opening in the name of Harmony, the Games will end with an equally symbolic Closing Ceremony, scheduled for February 22, 2026 in the unique setting of the Arena di Verona. For the first time in Olympic history, a World Heritage monument will become the scene of the final act of the Games, transforming itself into a stage without borders in Verona.

The title chosen, "Beauty in Action", celebrates beauty in motion: that of sport, art and human relationships. Dance, music, opera, cinema, design and technology come together in a show that pays homage to Italian creativity and its ability to transform aesthetics into shared emotion.

Among the announced protagonists, the étoile Roberto Bolle, an international symbol of elegance and discipline, called to embody on stage the perfect synthesis between athletic gesture and artistic beauty. The scenography, inspired by a drop of water, introduces a new configuration of the Arena: no longer a clear separation between stage and stalls, but a large lively and changing Italian square, designed to welcome athletes and the public in a collective party.

With the Closure of Verona, Milano Cortina 2026 promises to say goodbye to the world with a powerful message: beauty, when it becomes action, is capable of uniting territories, people and cultures, leaving a legacy that goes beyond sport.