This will be a great first. Starting this Friday evening, two Olympic cauldrons will catch fire in Italy to definitively launch the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina. While only one cauldron is usually lit, there will be two for this edition which takes place over a particularly large territory in northern Italy. They will be installed in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo and lit during the 17 days of competition.
In their design of these basins, the organizers decided to pay homage to a genius of Italian art: Leonardo da Vinci. They will thus resemble spheres of geometric interlacing, like the knots of the transalpine painter and engineer. With a diameter of 3.1 meters, they can open, close, tighten or expand to offer a permanent spectacle to the curious who come to observe them. A small daily show will be offered free of charge between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the Arco della Pace in Milan.
Before the lighting of these basins this Friday evening at the conclusion of the opening ceremony, the Olympic flame traveled 60 cities and 12,000 km during a 63-day journey. Many personalities from the world of sport took part in this giant relay, including former footballers Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Filippo Inzaghi, Fabio Cannavaro and Javier Zanetti. Vincenzo Nibali, Jasmine Paolini and Francesco Bagnaia also carried the flame. Italian alpine skiing legends Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni are expected to be the final pallbearers tasked with lighting the cauldrons.
