Everything is ready for the landing of the Olympic flame in Valtellina just one week after the opening ceremony of San Siro, in Milan, which will officially open the long-awaited Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics.
Tomorrow
Stage number 54 is scheduled for tomorrow which will start from Cles and, after touching Malè/Croviana/Dimaro Folgarida, Passo del Tonale, Ponte di Legno, will arrive in the province of Sondrio passing through Aprica. The stage will end in Livigno, where from 5pm an event open to the public will be held in the Isola area in via Biondi which will welcome the arrival of the Flame with music and entertainment dedicated to the entire community.
Saturday
Stage number 55 on Saturday will start from Bormio, then touching Valdisotto and Tirano and will end in Sondrio, where the City Celebration in Piazza Garibaldi which will culminate at 7.30 pm with the lighting of the brazier.
Characterizing the moment dedicated to the city, promoted by the Municipality, will be ski mountaineering, a discipline dear to the Sondrio area, which made its debut as an Olympic sport, the competitions of which will take place in Bormio. The champion Robert Antonioli, from the stage, will comment on the videos test event which took place in recent weeks, illustrating the three Olympic races scheduled for 19 and 21 February: men’s sprint, women’s sprint and mixed relay. The technical commissioner Fabio Meraldi and the three athletes who will represent Italy at the Olympics, Giulia Murada, Michele Boscacci e Alba De Silvestro, will be on video for a greeting from the Pyrenees where they are involved in a world cup race. From the stage through a large screen, it will also be possible to follow the torchbearers’ race through the streets of the city live.
“We are honored to be one of the 60 stages of the journey of the Olympic flame and we can’t wait to share this moment with the citizens and the hundreds of young athletes from our sports clubs who have announced their presence – says the councilor for Tourism, Sport and the 2026 Olympics Michele Diasio -. We will welcome the flame and the torchbearers who will parade through the streets of the city, including Martin Sala, Sandro Vanoi e Simone Bertini: the Olympics celebrate sport at its highest levels, in terms of values and competitiveness, and the torch sums them up, accompanying us towards the most extraordinary two weeks our valley has ever experienced. The invitation is to celebrate this epochal event together, united under the five-circle flag.”
To allow the passage of the torchbearers and the caravan that will follow them along the streets of the city, where it will arrive at 6.40pm, coming from Tirano, a series of temporary changes to circulation and parking will be adopted: starting from 2pm, and until the end, it will not be possible to park in via Toti, between numbers 35 and 11, De Simoni, Lungo Mallero Cadorna and in Piazzetta Carbonera. From 6.30 pm, until the passage has taken place, it will not be possible to pass along the route from via Stelvio, to the intersection with via Germania, via Toti, piazzale Bertacchi, via Mazzini, via Adua, viale Milano, via De Simoni, Ponte Matteotti and Piazza Garibaldi. For the time strictly necessary for the torchbearer to pass, it will not be possible to circulate along Via dei Palazzi, from Piazzetta Carbonera to Piazza Quadrivio, Via Quadrio, Piazza Campello, Corso Italia and Piazza Garibaldi.
In Bormio, however, the Stelvio slope will be the protagonist at 1.30pm of the evocative “Up&Down” relay, entrusted to young local alpine skiing and ski mountaineering athletes, symbol of the future of sport and the continuity of Olympic values. For safety reasons, the event at the Ski Stadium will take place behind closed doors, while starting from 2pm the entire transit of the Flame in the center of Bormio will be freely accessible to the public who will therefore be able to experience this symbolic moment up close.
The day of January 31st will be a real celebration for the whole community, which from 1pm to 5pm will be able to experience the entire territory with readings, flashmobs and moments of sharing, capable of uniting different generations in the name of sport and territorial pride. The complete program is available at this link.
After passing through Bormio, the Fiamma will continue its journey towards Valdisotto (3.30pm), to then reach Tirano and, as mentioned, Sondrio, where the end of the stage will be celebrated at 7.30pm.
Sunday
The third stage of the journey of the Olympic flame which will directly concern Valtellina is scheduled for Sunday 1 February and will start in Berbenno/Ronco, then touching Ardenno, Morbegno, Colico, Mandello del Lario/Abbadia Alpina and ending in Lecco, where the City Celebration will be held in Piazza Garibaldi from 5pm.
