A look at the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo 2026 Winter Olympic bid ahead of the IOC’s vote on Monday to choose the host city ...
Like its Swedish counterpart, Italy’s bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics has been in flux.
The initial declaration in March 2018 was for Milan and the 2006 Winter Games host of Turin. Cortina, which hosted Italy’s other Winter Olympics in 1956, was added within a week to make it a three-pronged candidate. By September, Turin dropped out after political infighting. The bid has since remained Milan-Cortina, sites separated by more than 200 miles.
Italy would make this history if elected Monday: No country has ever won two Winter (or Summer) Olympic bid elections against at least one other nation in a 20-year span and held the Winter (or Summer) Games twice in that stretch.*
MORE: How to watch 2026 Winter Olympic host vote
Rome bids for the 2020 and 2024 Summer Games were dropped for financial and political reasons.
Its bid presentation team for Monday’s vote includes Olympic champions Alberto Tomba (Alpine skiing) and Armin Zöggeler (luge).
More on the Milan-Cortina bid:
Proposed Dates: Feb. 6-22 (Olympics), March 6-15 (Paralympics)
Venues
Milan -- Figure skating, hockey, short track
Cortina d’Ampezzo (220 miles northeast of Milan) -- Alpine skiing (women), bobsled, luge, skeleton, curling, biathlon (Antholz)
Val di Fiemme (160 miles northeast of Milan) -- Cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, speed skating (outdoors with roof plan)
Valtellina (85 miles northeast of Milan) -- Alpine skiing (men, Bormio), freestyle skiing, snowboarding
Ceremonies
Opening Ceremony -- San Siro (home of AC Milan and Inter Milan)
Closing Ceremony -- Verona Arena (Roman amphitheatre 90 miles east of Milan)
Slogan
“Dreaming Together”
IOC Evaluation Group Report
“Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo combine the advantages of a big European city and those of a popular mountain resort region in the Italian Alps. The candidature benefits from the region’s strong winter sports history, tradition and experience, as well as the Italians’ love and passion for sport. The project can also leverage the economic strength and prosperity of the northern Italian region. While planning is still at an early stage, the project has the potential to achieve the long-term goals of the cities and the region in line with Olympic Agenda 2020/New Norm.”
MORE: IOC proposes Olympic ‘host’ can be multiple countries
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*The U.S. won bid city votes for 1960, 1976 and 1980, but Denver withdrew from hosting the 1976 Olympics and Lake Placid ended up the lone candidate in 1980. Innsbruck hosted the 1964 Winter Olympics and again in 1976, but it was chosen to host the latter after Denver withdrew. St. Moritz hosted the 1928 and 1948 Winter Games, but no other nations were formal candidates in those years. The U.S. hosted the 1984 and 1996 Summer Games, but it was the lone candidate for the former.
