In February 2026, Italy will host the Winter Olympics in a groundbreaking new format. Unlike previous editions, the Games will not bear the name of a single city but will instead be jointly hosted by several regions. The concept links the metropolis of Milan with storied alpine winter sports destinations and deliberately embraces a decentralized organizational model. The goal is to make use of existing infrastructure , limit the burden on any single location, and showcase the diversity of northern Italy.
Winter Olympics: February 6 to 22
The Winter Olympics will take place from February 6 to 22, 2026. All competitions will be held over the course of those two-plus weeks. The opening ceremony is planned for Milan, intended to underscore the urban character of the Games, while the closing ceremony will be held at the historic Arena di Verona . The Games are being organized by the Italian organizing committee in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee. In addition to the athletes, several tens of thousands of accredited participants will be on hand, including media representatives, officials, and volunteers.
The sports program of the 2026 Winter Games covers the full spectrum of Olympic winter sports. This includes alpine skiing competitions, snowboard and freestyle disciplines, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Ice sports such as ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, and short track are also on the schedule, as is curling. Bobsled, skeleton, and luge round out the program. For the first time, ski mountaineering will be represented as an Olympic discipline, further emphasizing the alpine character of the Games. In total, more than 100 medal events are planned.
Host Venues Between City and Alps
Milan forms the urban center of the Games and serves primarily as the venue for ice sports. The city boasts modern sports facilities and a high-capacity transportation infrastructure. Cortina d'Ampezzo plays a key role in the alpine segment and thereby builds on its long winter sports tradition. Additional competitions will be held at well-known winter sports destinations in Lombardy, Trentino, and South Tyrol, including Bormio, Livigno, Antholz, and the Val di Fiemme. These locations have been fixtures on the international winter sports circuit for decades and have already hosted World Cup events and World Championships.
Around 90 nations are expected to send athletes to the 2026 Winter Games. The organizers anticipate a total of more than 3,500 athletes who have qualified through selection competitions. Alongside the traditional winter sports nations from Europe and North America, a growing number of countries from Asia, South America, and Africa are also taking part, reflecting the increasing global reach of winter sports.
Sustainability and Long-Term Use
A central guiding principle of the 2026 Winter Games is a commitment to sustainability. The vast majority of venues already exist and will either be reused or only temporarily adapted. Large-scale new construction has largely been avoided in order to minimize environmental impact. At the same time, investments in transportation, digitalization , and tourism infrastructure are intended to generate long-term benefits for the participating regions. The Games are thus conceived not as a short-lived mega-event, but as a catalyst for sustainable regional development.
The 2026 Winter Games take their place in a series of recent and upcoming editions. The previous Winter Olympics were held in 2022 in Beijing and were the first to be staged entirely in a region without reliable natural snow coverage. After Italy, the Olympic winter circuit will return to Europe in 2030, when the Winter Games will be held in the French Alps. In this context, the Games in Milan and Cortina mark a shift toward host models that are more regional, more sustainable, and more restrained in terms of infrastructure investment.