Milan Cortina 2026 Ceremonies

[BigVic]

Let’s get the ball rolling. 
 

For the first time since Sarajevo 1984 the Ceremonies for Milan-Cortina 2026 will be held in different venues. The Opening Ceremony will be held at San Siro which will be the old 60,000 seat stadium while the Closing Ceremony will be held at the historic Verona Arena in Verona. 

[baron-pierreIV]

I guess my first question is: who will Milano-Cortina do the Handover with in Verona?  If it's Salt Lake, that would sort of complete the circle started in 2002 when Salt Lake handed the torch over to Torino 2006; and then in 4 years' time, the route will be reversed with M-C2026 RETURNING the torch/flag to Salt Lake again?!?  That would be ANOTHER FIRST in Olympic history.  

[SportLightning]

7 hours ago, BigVic said:

Let’s get the ball rolling. 
 

For the first time since Sarajevo 1984 the Ceremonies for Milan-Cortina 2026 will be held in different venues. The Opening Ceremony will be held at San Siro which will be the old 60,000 seat stadium while the Closing Ceremony will be held at the historic Verona Arena in Verona. 

This is expected to be the final event for the San Siro stadium before set to be demolished for a new stadium.

[baron-pierreIV]

1 hour ago, SportLightning said:

This is expected to be the final event for the San Siro stadium before set to be demolished for a new stadium.

I know that.  A goodbye to an UGLY stadium isn't really worth noting.  The subliminal message is: Can't wait to see this eyesore gone. -- although from the renderings, it seems they are keeping one of those circular ramps.  

[SportLightning]

49 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

I know that.  A goodbye to an UGLY stadium isn't really worth noting.  The subliminal message is: Can't wait to see this eyesore gone. -- although from the renderings, it seems they are keeping one of those circular ramps.  

It's been there for nearly 100 years for that iconic venue in Milano.

[baron-pierreIV]

41 minutes ago, SportLightning said:

It's been there for nearly 100 years for that iconic venue in Milano.

Doesn't mean anything to me.  Is it even seismically sound?  It's an UGLY stadium -- and actually, for the most part, I found Milan to be an ugly city considering it's Italy's financial powerhouse.  but that's another story.  

[SportLightning]

52 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Doesn't mean anything to me.  Is it even seismically sound?  It's an UGLY stadium -- and actually, for the most part, I found Milan to be an ugly city considering it's Italy's financial powerhouse.  but that's another story.  

Italy has so much winter sports history. Milano is mostly a summer city. The country is a strong sports powerhouse.

[StefanMUC]

5 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

I found Milan to be an ugly city considering it's Italy's financial powerhouse.  but that's another story.  

Yes yes yes. Dome rooftop, Last Supper and Navigli are the only nice things about Milan.

[baron-pierreIV]

7 minutes ago, StefanMUC said:

Yes yes yes. Dome rooftop, Last Supper and Navigli are the only nice things about Milan.

The Last Supper is actually so faded already.  The Sforza Castle is maybe #40 or something like that in the Best of Europe's castles.  The Galleria and even the very unimpressive La Scala Opera House are really the only other buildings of note (for me) in Milano.  The wonders are up in Lago Como.  

Edited March 1, 2022 by baron-pierreIV

[BigVic]

The closing will be at Verona due to San Siro being demolished 

[StefanMUC]

5 minutes ago, BigVic said:

The closing will be at Verona due to San Siro being demolished 

It‘s not as if the stadium would be torn down the day after the opening ceremony.

Verona has been chosen because it is an iconic venue, and more importantly because Veneto is financing lots of the budget and they wanted their share of the cake also with the ceremonies.

[AustralianFan]

Here’s a report about the Milan Mayor wanting a public debate on San Siro

 

[SportLightning]

On 3/1/2022 at 12:47 AM, AustralianFan said:

Here’s a report about the Milan Mayor wanting a public debate on San Siro

 

We're waiting on the results.

[SportLightning]

What about the Verona Arena where the closing ceremonies will take place.

[baron-pierreIV]

On 3/9/2022 at 11:17 AM, SportLightning said:

What about the Verona Arena where the closing ceremonies will take place.

What about it?? 

[AustralianFan]

AC Milan and Inter Milan are not happy …

 

 

[yoshi]

Thought they'd picked a replacement design?! The opening ceremony was gonna be the last event at San Siro, right?

[AustralianFan]

37 minutes ago, yoshi said:

Thought they'd picked a replacement design?! The opening ceremony was gonna be the last event at San Siro, right?

 Correct. But now AC Milan and Inter Milan are unhappy at the, as it seems, projected delays to the reconstruction of the San Siro, with “Milan's Mayor Giuseppe Sala having ordered a public consultation on the investment which is expected to take around six months to complete”.

[Anthony]

would they push the redevelopment to begin asap and have the opening ceremony be in the new stadium on the site of san siro?

[AustralianFan]

50 minutes ago, Anthony said:

would they push the redevelopment to begin asap and have the opening ceremony be in the new stadium on the site of san siro?

For the the Milan Mayor Guiseppe Sala to now be keen on sending this project for “consultations with the public”, seems to indicate may be be getting blowback from the public about the cost of knocking down and rebuilding San Siro on the same site as the new “Cathedral” after the 2026 Opening Ceremony.

It appears that timing is not the issue here but the cost of it.  

[SportLightning]

I think they could redevelop that area of the San Siro Stadium after Milano Cortina 2026.

[Olympics2028]

On 2/28/2022 at 2:40 PM, SportLightning said:

It's been there for nearly 100 years for that iconic venue in Milano.

If you hadn't mentioned that, I'd never have known its history. A quick Google search indicates the building dates back to 1926. It obviously was totally rebuilt more recently.

The original was obviously too small for versatility, but the reconstruction ended up making the old-time dignity of the stadium's guts way too overbearing.

 

 

 

[AustralianFan]

“Architect and spokesperson for the Italian Government's Environmental Committee, Andrea Bonessa, has criticised Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala for a supposed lack of transparency in a public debate over options for the San Siro, the Opening Ceremony venue for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.”

 

[fusilli]

that's barely a news

[Guilga]

Hooo boy, imagine the scenes if Milan cannot get their opening ceremony arena ready in time and Verona Arena have to fill in the opener too... or more crazy - TORINO fills that olympic opener role! The regional infighting will either be fun to watch or just put Barcelona 2030 to shame.