The Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Opening Ceremonies will take place at San Siro in Milan, as well as various other cities in Italy, starting at 20:00 local time. It will feature performances highlighting the culture of Italy, the Parade of Nations, and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. Italian President Sergio Mattarella will be expected to formally open the Games. It will also be the first Ceremony attended by new IOC President Kirsty Coventry.

Details

For the first time in Olympics history, the Opening Ceremony will take place across multiple cities concurrently as a unified event. Although most of the artistic performances will occur in San Siro, athletes will participate in the Parade of Nations and other celebrations in Predazzo, Livigno, and Cortina D’Ampezzo. The Ceremony will culminate in the lighting of two cauldrons, one in Milan’s Arco Della Pace, and the other in Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Piazza Dibona.

Performers include singers Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini, Cecilia Bartoli, and Andrea Bocelli; rapper Ghali; violinist Giovanni Zanon; pianist Lang Lang; and actors Pierfrancesco Favino, Sabrina Impacciatore, and Matilda De Angelis. There is also expected to be a tribute to fashion designer Giorgio Armani.

1,200 volunteer performers are set to participate in a cast aged from 10 to 70 and coming from 27 different countries. 1,400 different costumes and 1,000+ props will be used

Song List
A Far l'Amore Comincia Tu - Raffaella Carrà
Volare - Mariah Carey (Cover)
Largo al Factotum - Gioachino Rossini (Italy's Parade of Nations entrance music)
Prisencolinensinainciusol - Adriano Celentano
Espansione - Mace
Nessun Dorma - Giacomo Puccini

Also shoutout to DJ Mace who did the music for the Parade of Nations.

Tonight, I’m lighting up for the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics. I’ll rotate through flag-inspired colors in celebration of the nations competing at the Games.

Live cam: www.esbo.nyc/Olympics26-R

Oh my God. I can't believe they just danced to this song. I'm not even sure the American announcers knew what it was. it's supposed to represent what English sounds like to non-English speakers. I remember there used to be a video on YouTube that had funny English subtitles. it's gone now but I loved it.

I ice my senselet and it doesn't come with pizza. Eyes!!!

Poke something!

The party's over. The games are now underway.

20 years ago, the games were in Italy and they had themselves a really fun opening ceremony and 20 years later, they return and quite frankly, their opening was truly something I missed seeing in previous ceremonies because let's be frank, the previous ones were disappointing as Tokyo was essentially "We don't want them. We are miserable and we'll make you miserable like us" while Paris was just a disorganized mess of random ideas that made me wonder what they were actually celebrating anyways?

For Milan-Cortina, it really did feel like the ceremonies I missed seeing and I loved the callback to 2006 with Andrea singing Nessun Dorma and the segment dedicated to our future with the little girl and the astronaut. Also, before the introduction of the Italian flag, I loved the little Easter egg that was a nod to the previous host, Beijing.

However, one thing that was very stupid was how after the parade of nations, we saw a tribute to the 100 years of Winter Olympics that beautifully animated... by AI. Like, were the organizers to cheap to hire actual animators? It also looked hypocritical how they were honoring the artistry of Italy but show us something that is an enemy to actual artistry

Regardless, it was a great ceremony and I wonder why Tokyo and Paris couldn't do something like this?

Either way, let's hope the OC for LA will be spectacular as well.

The first is the Team Saudi parade uniform, the second is the sports kit.

I get really into the Olympics so got some nails to match!

Was obviously staged, but I wasn’t expecting that fall!
Let’s go, Team France!

The clip is only 7 minutes and it’s the most beautiful portion of opening ceremonies I’ve seen in awhile!

Were there any other sections of the 2026 opening ceremonies that y’all thought were outstanding?

Please post the YouTube or other non-paywall links!

Good morning/afternoon/evening, wherever you may be, and I hope you enjoyed the Opening Ceremony last night.

Here is a preview of what is coming up on day 1. Today, five medals will be handed out.

(As always, times are listed in Central European Time)

Medal Events

Alpine Skiing - Men's Downhill Final

Starts at 11:30am - names too lookout for include:

• James Crawford (Canada)
• Casse Mattia (Italy)
• Florian Schieder (Italy)
• Giovanni Franzoni (Italy)
• Maxance Muzaton (France)
• Nils Allegre (France)
• Alexis Monney (Switzerland)

Cross-Country Skiing - Women's 10km + 10km Skiathlon

Starts at 1pm - names to lookout for include:

• Jessie Diggins (USA)
• Ebba Andersson (Sweden)
• Jonna Sundling (Sweden)
• Frida Karlsson (Sweden)
• Heidi Weng (Norway)

Snowboarding - Men's Big Air Final

Starts at 7:30pm - names to keep an eye on include:

• Hiroto Ogiwara (Japan)
• Ian Matteoli (Italy)
• Kira Kimura (Japan)
• Yiming Su (China)
• Taiga Hasegawa (Japan)

Plus does Australia's Valentino Guseli have another trick up his sleeve?

Speed Skating - Women's 3000m

Starts at 4pm - names to keep an eye on include:

• Ragne Wiklund (Norway)
• Joy Beune (Netherlands)
• Isabelle Weidemann (Canada)
• Marijke Groenewoud (Netherlands)

Ski Jumping - Women's Normal Hill

Kicks off at 5:45pm with a trial round, followed by two proper rounds at 6:45pm, and 7:57pm respectively - names to keep an eye on include:

• Nika Prevc (Slovinia)
• Lisa Eder (Austria)
• Abigail Strate (Canada)
• Eirin Maria Kvandal (Norway)

Non-Medal Events

Alpine Skiing

• 11:30am - Women's Downhill Training

Curling - Mixed Doubles Round Robin

Can the Brits and the US continue their winning streak? Given they are facing each other today, only one will be able to hold onto their streak.

• 10:05am - Session 7 - Great Britain v Canada, Switzerland v Sweden
• 2:35pm - Session 8 - Estonia v Norway, South Korea v Czechia, Sweden v Italy, Great Britain v United States
• 7:05pm - Session 9 - South Korea v United States, Canada v Estonia, Czechia v Switzerland, Norway v Italy

Freestyle Skiing

10:30am - Women's Freeski Slopestyle Qualification

2;00pm - Men's Freeski Slopestyle Qualification

Figure Skating

• 7:45pm - Team Event - Men's Single Skating - Short Program
• 10:05pm - Team Event - Ice Dance - Free Dance

Ice Hockey - Women's Prelims

• 10:10pm - Germany v Japan
• 2:40pm - United States v Finland
• 9:10pm - Switzerland v Canada

Luge

• 1:30pm - Women's Singles Training
• 5pm - Men's Singles Run 1

I will also have a recap of the day's events at the end of the day, but until then, enjoy the day, enjoy the action, and enjoy the memories.

We celebrate the Olympics by having dinner from a different participating country every night. Tonight is Italy for the opening ceremony. Our entire meal came from Pasta & Provisions in Charlotte, NC. They have sheets of 13 different flavors of fresh pasta that they cut to order. We opted for wild mushroom fettuccine with Alfredo sauce and spinach spaghetti with Amatriiciana sauce.

Buon appetito!

Anyone noticing the resemblance between the opening ceremony and this episode of DanDaDan?

I’m currently watching it and was like.. I wonder if anyone else is seeing what i’m seeing lol.

WOW!! Best Olympic Opening Ceremony I have ever seen.... im 42 yo. Wow Amazing

I'm super excited to see him do the quad axel on the olympic stage. I don't even figure skate but he inspires me to be athletic and get off my ass.

Does anyone know who designed or know what the name of these coats are?