Milano Cortina 2026

Municipality for Milan

Discover how the Milano Cortina Candidature Committee describes their vision for the Games and the legacy they plan to leave behind:

The Milano Cortina 2026 Candidature fully embraces the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020/New Norm, putting the long-term development strategies and challenges of the host cities and regions at the centre.

We will contribute to a golden decade of Olympic and Paralympic sport, placing Milano Cortina alongside other leading international cities, to help reposition the Games in modern society.

The selection of the venues is fully aligned with the ambition of northern Italy to become a world-class hub of excellence for winter sports. The Games will showcase the quality of the selected sports infrastructure and help to invest in renovating/upgrading those venues that need investments.

The Games will also be conducive to greater cooperation in the entire Alpine macro-region, to improve the attractiveness of the mountains as a place to live and reverse the trend of depopulation.

Finally, the Games are a unique opportunity to showcase Italy’s design style that has seen the “Made in Italy” brand become synonymous with excellence all over the world.

* Text, images and illustrations provided by Milano Cortina 2026

IOC

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Two cities – Milano and Cortina – with four supporting regions – Lombardia, Veneto, Trento and Bolzano/Bozen – join forces to deliver memorable Games that will be conducive to greater cooperation in the entire Alpine macro-region.

These principles and a clear focus on sustainability have provided the foundations for the Milano Cortina 2026 Candidature – a compelling Italian offer that unites tradition and innovation by combining:

• The inspirational, innovative and creative city of Milano, one of the most dynamic cities in Europe with a strong and diverse economy, often regarded as Italy’s financial capital, having strengths in arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, research, services, tourism and universities. It is a city with a decidedly cosmopolitan character. Music, theatre, museums, cinema and contemporary art form a hugely rich and varied tapestry of cultural offerings for the benefit of locals and visitors alike.The success of the World Expo 2015 laid the foundations for a ‘new Milano’ (the first event in Italy to be certified to ISO20121 standards) and spawned the desire to host further international events, such as the Games. As the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, said during his speech at the Expo closing ceremony “Today is not a farewell but the beginning of a new civic commitment”;

And

• Cortina d’Ampezzo (Cortina), Valtellina, Val di Fiemme and Anterselva/Antholz – in the stunning traditional mountain setting of the Italian Alps. Having hosted the 1956 Olympic Winter Games, Cortina, the Queen of the Dolomites, is an international winter sports destination of the highest acclaim, with an excellent track record and relationships with national and international sports federations. A proud host city for the 2021 World Alpine Ski Championships, it was praised for its sustainable approach to ensure protection of the sensitive alpine ecosystem. It is an interesting example of a multi-cultural, multi-lingual society with clear ambitions for a sustainable future.

* Text, images and illustrations provided by Milano Cortina 2026

Roby Trab

Milano Cortina wants to build on its strong environmental credentials and use the Games to help accelerate sustainability plans, by exceeding ISO 20121: Event Sustainability Management System. 

The Master Plan has been conceived to minimise the environmental impact, thanks to the wide use of existing infrastructures. The Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will ensure that environmental considerations are taken on board, with a coherent stakeholder engagement programme. 

The legacy vision is to use the “power of the Games” as a catalyst to deliver our long-term strategic plans, identifying four priority themes: sport, social, economic and environmental.  

A Sustainability and Legacy Permanent Forum will be immediately established to coordinate all the organisations with responsibilities for legacy delivery, through a comprehensive legacy programme, with quantified indicators and clear monitoring and evaluation. 

Generation 2026 will play sports regularly, recycle three quarters of the waste they produce, use sustainable means of transportation only, use sport to understand cultural diversity, and grow in a more inclusive and integrated society.  

* Text, images and illustrations provided by Milano Cortina 2026