The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games officially closed with the ceremony staged in the evocative setting of the Verona Arena. An intense evening full of symbols that greeted athletes and delegations after more than two weeks of competitions spread across Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige.
The parade of athletes, mixed as per tradition under a single Olympic flag, opened the final moment before the institutional speeches. In the stands and in the parterre sporting and political authorities, including the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the President of the International Olympic Committee Kirsty Coventry.
The spectacle and the Olympic protocol
Music, choreography and references to Italian culture accompanied the official moments foreseen by the protocol: the presentation of the medals of the last races, the lowering of the flag and, above all, the extinguishing of the Olympic brazier. A symbolic gesture that marked the end of the 2026 edition, ideally bringing the baton back to the future.
The organization has focused on a format capable of blending tradition and modernity, enhancing a symbolic monument of Italian history and transforming it into an international stage.
The transition to France
The central moment of the evening is the handover to France, which will host the 2030 Winter Olympic Games. After the arrival of the Olympic flag and the anthem, there is space for the presentation of the next venue, with an artistic segment dedicated to the French Alps.
Thus ends a widespread and participatory edition, which brought the Games back to Italy twenty years after Turin 2006, leaving a legacy of renewed facilities and an organization that involved a large territory in the North of the country.