Feb 22, 2026
3 min read
The Milan Cortina Winter Games will conclude with a ceremony in the ancient Verona Arena, marking the final meeting of the Olympic Games.
The Milan Cortina Games will close at the Verona Arena as the Olympic flag is transmitted to France
The Milan Cortina Olympic Games will close at the Verona Arena when the Olympic flag is passed to France
VERONA, Italy (AP) - Milan's Cortina Olympics will end Sunday with a closing ceremony inside Verona's ancient stadium, almost amid the remote mountains, valleys and urban areas that make the Winter Games the most open in Olympic history.
The 2.5-hour ceremony will celebrate Italian classical and contemporary music and dance, starring internationally acclaimed ballerina Roberto Bolle, Italian pop star Achille Lauro and DJ Gaby Ponte.
Organizers expect about 1,500 people, including more than half of the Olympic athletes, to parade at the monument, built in the 1st century for gladiator fights and exotic animal hunting.
They will join behind the flag bearers from each of the 92 participating nations, including biathlete Lisa Vittozzi and sprinter Davide Ghiotto for host Italy, and hockey player Hilary Knight and ice dancer Evan Bates for the United States - all gold medalists.
About 12,000 spectators will join the players and officials for the closing ceremony.It will be more intimate than the opening ceremony, which was performed by Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli at Milan's San Siro football stadium, with more than 60,000 people in attendance.
The event celebrates Italian lyric opera, recognized by the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO as a World Treasure, while also paying homage to contemporary Italian classics.Both opera and dance are at the Stone Amphitheatre, which hosts the famous Opera Festival every summer, featuring spectacular productions and gala dance performances by Roberto Boll and Friends.
It will be the first Games for IOC President Kirsty Coventry, a two-time Olympic swimming champion, who will oversee the event alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
One of the most important moments of the ceremony is the transfer of the Olympic flag to the next host of the Winter Games, France, and its flag is raised alongside the flags of Italy and Greece.
The Cortina Games in Milan spanned an area of 22,000 square kilometers (8,500 sq mi), from ice sports in Milan to biathlon in Anterselva on the Austrian border, men's snowboarding and alpine skiing in Valtellina on the Swiss border, cross-country skiing in the Val di Coronat sports in Val di Coronamme and women's luge in Fiemme.Cortina d'Ampezzo.
It is a model that will be maintained for the next games to avoid the costs of building new buildings.The 2030 French Alps Winter Games will host events in the Alps and Nice on the Mediterranean, while the ice skating race will be held abroad at a location to be determined.
The closing ceremony will end with the extinguishing of the Olympic flame in two unprecedented cauldrons in Milan and Cortina, viewed via video link.The light show will provide an alternative to fireworks, which are not allowed in Verona, to protect the animals from harm.
Over a period of 17 days of competition, a total of 116 medals have been contested across eight Olympic sports in 16 disciplines, which also includes ski mountaineering making its debut this year.
The Milan Cortina Paralympics opening ceremony will also take place on 6 March at the Verona Arena, with the Games running until 15 March.
AP Winter Olympics coverage: https:///hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
