The opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics took place on 6 February 2026. It started at 20:00 CET (19:00 UTC) and concluded at 23:29.[1] It was held primarily at San Siro in Milan, but also included Livigno, Predazzo, and the streets of Cortina, Italy. This was the first opening ceremony of the Olympics which took place across four locations in the host country.[2] As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings included an artistic program showcasing the culture of the host country and city, with harmony being a central theme,[3][4] concluding with the parade of athletes and the lighting of the Olympic cauldrons.
The opening ceremony team was composed by Marco Balich as Creative Lead, Simone Ferrari as Creative Director & Deputy Creative Lead, Lulu Helbaek, Damiano Michieletto and Lida Castelli as Creative Directors[6] and produced by Banijay Live's Balich Wonder Studio. The Production Designer was Paolo Fantin, Costume Designer Massimo Cantini Parrini.[7] It is the first time that there are two cauldrons in two different cities. The ceremony primarily took place at the San Siro in Milan, while there were events, including the Parade of Nations at sites in Cortina, Livigno, and Predazzo, highlighting the Games' host sites.[8][9] The ceremony featured about 1,200 volunteer performers and more than 1,400 costumes; the performers participated in nearly 700 hours of rehearsals. There were nearly 61,000 spectators at San Siro, with ticket prices reaching $2,300 USD.[10][11] It was filmed by Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and broadcast by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) global media rights holders.[citation needed]
The theme for the ceremony was "Armonia" (Harmony).[12] Balich explained that the word harmony derives from Ancient Greek: "It means 'bringing together' in musical terms, different elements."[13]
The ceremony began at 20:00 CET with a 30-second countdown. The show itself began with a tribute to Italian artist Antonio Canova, telling the story of Cupid and Psyche through a museum setting accompanied by dancers and music.[14] After this, Italian actress Matilda De Angelis 'conducted' Italian composers Giacomo Puccini, Gioachino Rossini, and Giuseppe Verdi. Three hanging blue, red, and yellow paint tubes appeared over the stadium, releasing their colours while dancers performed, symbolising creativity and artistic expression. Their respective costumes showcased Italy's cultural heritage, cuisine, and history, most notably the character of Pinocchio and the Italian Moka pot. A brief tribute to the late Italian pop culture iconRaffaella Carrà also occurred.[15] Afterwards, A performance by American singer Mariah Carey followed, with her performing "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" in Italian and her single "Nothing Is Impossible".
At San Siro, models wore costumes in the colours of the Italian flag designed by the late Giorgio Armani. Vittoria Ceretti passed the country's flag off to the Carabinieri; in Cortina, Fulvio Valbusa, Giorgio Di Centa, Pietro Piller Cottrer, and Cristian Zorzi did the same to an all-women Carabinieri. Italian singer Laura Pausini performed "Il Canto degli Italiani", while a mountain choir did the same simultaneously in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Then a premade video shows two kids holding two plushies of the mascots of the Games hop onto a tram in Milan, taking a tour of the city's historical sites, and performers and musicians take the tram too. The tram arrives at the stadium and everyone leaves the tram to head to the stadium, including the two kids, one of whom drops the Tina plush, but it is picked up and returned to the kids by the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, who also shows up live in the stadium.[16]
The Olympic rings were unveiled during a segment featuring dancers showcasing the 'harmony' between the city (Milan) and the mountains (Cortina), symbolising the two host cities of the Games. In addition, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino delivered a recitation of Giacomo Leopardi's poem "L'infinito".[17] The score was led by Giovanni Andrea Zanon playing the 1716 BerthierStradivarius violin.[18] After this, the parade of nations commenced, beginning with Greece and ending with the host nation, Italy. Athletes from 93 countries paraded from four venues in Milan, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Livigno, and Predazzo,[19] against the backdrop of dance music provided by producer DJ Mace; the Italian athletes marched as a remixed version of "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville was heard.
Following the parade, Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore and dancers celebrated the 100 years of the Winter Olympic Games, first showcasing all the past Winter Olympics in backwards chronological order in a premade video through an animated sequence and then cutting to the live performance in the stadium. This entire segment featured the Games' mascots, Tina and Milo, in the premade video before the animated sequence. Music played during the segment included "Prisencolinensinainciusol" by Adriano Celentano.[20] Prior to the official speeches by IOC President Kirsty Coventry and the Games' organising committee president Giovanni Malago, actress Brenda Lodigiani performed a segment on Italian hand gestures. Italian president Sergio Mattarella, after being introduced in a pre-filmed video segment depicting him riding a tram in Milan driven by Valentino Rossi, proceeded to declare the Games open.[21] Afterwards, Italian tenor singer Andrea Bocelli performed "Nessun dorma".[22]
Before the lighting of the cauldrons, a tribute to the European Union featuring the anthem was shown.[citation needed] Then it was followed by a short segment about Europe's involvement with space exploration and astronomy (As with the European Space Agency) where a projection of the Milky Way galaxy is displayed and then followed by a young girl in the stadium who observes a model of the Solar System and promises to care for Earth and then meets Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and they both witness a space-themed performance in the middle of the stadium; the flame previously briefly entered the San Siro before departing to its final destination. The cauldron, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's 'knot' geometric designs, was lit by Italian alpine skiersDeborah Compagnoni and Alberto Tomba located in Milan's Arco della Pace monument, while another was lit by Italian alpine skier Sofia Goggia at Cortina's Piazza Angelo Dibona.[27]
The opening ceremony was filmed by host broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), with OBS distributing a "world feed" for rights-holding broadcasters to use.[52]
According to Auditel ratings, the opening ceremony was seen in Italy by an average of 9.2 million viewers.[77] In the United States, the ceremony was seen by 21.4 million viewers, a 34% increase from the 2022 Winter Olympics.[78]
Analysis
Critically, The Guardian's Alexis Petridis gave the ceremony received mixed-to-positive reviews,[20] while Variety's Alison Herman described it as a "playful celebration of Italian culture."[79] In addition, Dominic Patten of Deadline Hollywood stated that the ceremony was "a beautiful but baffling Italian buffet."[80]
Controversy
During the Parade of Nations, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who American broadcaster NBC appeared to have cut from footage,[81] and the Israeli team were booed by some of the audience present at San Siro.[82] While the negative reception was heard on OBS broadcasts, NBC's telecast received accusations of censorship.[83]
The commentary of the opening ceremony aired by Italian broadcaster RAI was heavily criticized. Numerous gaffes were made by director Paolo Petrecca; in addition to speaking over images and the other two commentators, Fabio Genovesi and Stefania Belmondo, Petrecca confused actress Matilda De Angelis with singer Mariah Carey, mistook IOC presidentKirsty Coventry for PresidentSergio Mattarella's daughter, made offensive comments during the athletes' parade, and failed to recognize the Olympic champions of the women's national volleyball team (with the exception of Paola Egonu).[84] Rai Sport journalists announced that, in protest against Petrecca's commentary, they would withdraw their signatures from their reports, links, and commentary from 5:00 p.m. on Monday, February 9th, until the end of the Olympic Games; they will then go on strike for three days.[85]The editorial board, the internal journalists' representation, has requested that the union statement be read during the Olympic news broadcasts and on the programs "Mattina Olimpica" and "Notti Olimpiche." The CEO of RAI asked him to take responsibility for both the commentary of the Olympic opening ceremony and for the tense relations with the editorial staff.[citation needed] On 19 February, Petrecca handed back his mandate to Rai CEO Giampaolo Rossi, announcing that he would be leaving his post at the end of the Olympic Games.[86]
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