From the Arena to the torch on the lake, Veneto at the heart of Milano Cortina 2026
The Arena of Verona is set to add another chapter to its long history, having been chosen as the venue for the Closing Ceremony of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games and the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games. It is perhaps the only example of an event of this kind being held in an amphitheatre that has been in continuous use for two thousand years and forms an integral part of a historic city centre recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yet Verona is also closely identified with nearby Lake Garda, and significantly, the Olympic torch touch its shores on its long journey across Italy, passing through the town of Peschiera, dominated by the walls of the 16th-century Venetian fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Veneto is a treasure chest of history and culture and, in the national landscape, it is the region chosen by the highest number of tourists, as confirmed by the 70 million visitor presences recorded each year. Lake Garda is one of the key pillars of this extraordinary appeal, the result of a long-standing vocation, as evidenced by the remains of villas from the Roman era found throughout the area, testifying to a lakeside leisure tradition already appreciated in ancient times. Above all, however, Lake Garda is a great crossroads of tradition and rich regional diversity. Whether travelling along its shores or sailing its waters, Lake Garda emerges as a geographic bridge between the Alpine arc and the Po Valley, Central Europe and Italy, the Adriatic Veneto and the northern heart of the country. For this reason, the journey of the flame along the shores of Lake Garda before lighting the Olympic cauldron that unites Milan and Cortina assumes a particular significance.
