IS ITALY UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF HOSTING THE WINTER OLYMPICS?
Not since Turin hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006 have Britons been able to watch the slopeside action in person without committing to longhaul travel; Beijing, PyeongChang and Sochi were a challenge. However, the next Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games – Milano Cortina 2026 – will again be held in western Europe, just five hours’ travel time from London.
Located in a wide, sunny valley and encircled by the Dolomites, Cortina d’Ampezzo has a spectacular setting. Towering silver-grey shards of ancient coral form a natural amphitheatre, the hulking crags taking on the apricot, pink and lilac hues of the changing sky like a stage set. And Cortina is a born performer, as comfortable hosting Sophia Loren, James Bond and the Pink Panther as she is pitting the world’s top snow athletes against each other, notably at the 1956 Winter Olympics and the 2021 World Ski Championships.
In the 1950s, Cortina’s pre-Games preparation included expanding the power grid to enable live TV coverage for the first time and providing 400 typewriters for visiting journalists. Preparations for 2026 look a little different, and not just because this will be the first time a Games is shared by two centres, together with various venues across the provinces of Lombardy and Veneto. The scale of the event is huge.
Never before has a Winter Games been so focused on environmental and social sustainability, either. Ninety per cent of the sports facilities, such as Cortina’s Olympic ice rink and Milan’s 100-year-old San Siro Stadium, are existing structures – and the Olympic village, which is being created through the regeneration of a former railway yard in Milan, will afterwards be used as affordable housing. New accommodation in Cortina, such as Hotel de Len, Dolomiti Lodge Alverà and Chalet Serge, claim sustainability credentials to match their designer cachet.
Skiers keen to scope out Cortina d’Ampezzo before its media exposure in four years’ time will find that the resort’s biggest pre-Olympic infrastructure improvement has already been implemented: the €19m (£16m), 4.5kmlong Cortina Skyline lift, launched on Christmas Day 2021. The new gondola whisks skiers from the primary ski area, Tofane (where the women’s Olympic Alpine disciplines and Paralympic ski and snowboarding events will be held), to the ruggedly beautiful Cinque Torri. The lift not only makes the area’s scenic slopes and rustic refuges easy to reach, but also gives access to the neighbouring ski area of Alta Badia.
On any winter’s day in Cortina, you will find yourself rubbing shoulders with fur-clad Italian glitterati engaging in the an evening stroll along the pedestrianised Via Corsa. Come February 2026, you might also glimpse the GB curling team or our bobsleigh, skeleton and luge athletes, knowing you have warmed up the Olimpia delle Tofane piste for Charlie Guest and Alex Tilley, our rising Alpine stars.