Milano Cortina 2026 presents the world with the image of a revitalized Italy. The President of the organizing Foundation, Giovanni Malagò – formerly the head of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) – brings down the curtain with an explicit exclamation about the nation's commitment: "You've kept your word." Looking ahead, we can only hope that the capital will also find a path to renewed pride. We await a new Abebe Bikila to see him dancing on the cobblestones in the style of Bolle at the Verona Arena.
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We read the admirable summary in La Stampa on February 23, 2026: "Prestige Games." Hats off! Those three words encompass every aspect of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. After all, over there—we mean Turin, home of the newspaper about to be handed over from the Agnelli-Elkans to who knows who, Greeks, Arabs, and Italian provincials—the editorial staff understands balancing acts like no other newspaper anywhere in the world.
Remember how they praised the 2006 Turin Winter Games? They were portrayed as the Olympics destined to make history. Then, twenty years later, some took stock of the cathedrals falling to ruin in the snowy deserts of Piedmont and its surroundings, and some admitted that the bobsleigh track was a waste of money imposed from above in deference to an "Italianness" to be flaunted for posterity, and that those adrenaline-fueled, high-speed challenges could have been staged in nearby La Plagne, in a sort of renewed Italy-France twinning relationship in force before, during, and after the Kingdom of Savoy, with varying degrees of intensity.
Time will tell. Never rush to judgment.
At the moment, we're seeing the Super Skeptics of the Made in Italy Games retreat, built on the concept of spreading across the 22.000 square kilometers encompassing Milan, Bormio, Livigno, Cortina, Predazzo, and so on. This is exceptional given the logistical challenges of the mountains and the threatening weather conditions. The 2002 World Cup was much more widely spread between South Korea and Japan, just as the 2026 American Games will be spread between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Speaking of the United States and Canada... Allow us a joke in light of incontrovertible facts: the stars and stripes heroes prevailed over the maple leaves in the dramatic ice hockey finals in both the women's and men's competitions. And thank goodness! Had the opposite happened, it's not as if Donald J. Trump would have used this as an excuse to invade or even attempt to annex Canada as the 52nd state, after Greenland as the 51st... It's a joke meant to be ironic. It should be taken as such. Full stop.
The Super Skeptics have thus been rebuffed. The Normal Skeptics, however, continue to rage because some situations have been fixed at the last minute, major infrastructure projects are far from being completed, some stupidity involving volunteers is making the rounds around the globe, and so on.
We're back to normality and the Italian spirit that always saves face with a powerful sprint finish and the ability to project the most captivating image of itself to the world. And that "30 e lode" (30 with honors) for the Italians, with 10 gold, 6 silver, and 14 bronze medals, places Italy among the elite of winter sports, with three queens above all: Federica Brignone, Arianna Fontana, and Francesca Lollobrigida. The sheer weight of their medals elevates the entire country among the all-time greats, underscoring how our country, when it wants to, knows how to work together—and how!
Giovanni Malagò, former President of CONI and President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation, closed the Winter Games (but not his own in a general sense...) with an explanatory "we have kept our promises". His Foundation went much further. It surprised everyone with the quality of the organisation and the unexpected solidity of the sports movement which established the record of 30 medals, placing Italy quantitatively in the wake of Norway (41) and the United States (33) and qualitatively (golds) on the same level as Holland (20) which has a highly respectable mass sports culture so much so that it excels in every sector and even in the mountains despite a large part of its territory being below sea level!
Some Anglo-Saxons push Italy up a notch because they rely on the total. Some Latins consider the gold medals as a determining factor. What is certain is that Italy "kept its word," as Malagò emphasized in his farewell speech, which was emotionally charged. Compared to previous host nations, Italy boasts special recognition because both President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were awarded gold medals of merit by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Here's another good starting point for looking to the future with Olympic pragmatism: why not skip the America's Cup, push Giovanni Malagò for mayor of Rome, and nominate the capital to host the 2040 Summer Olympics, 80 years after the 1960 Games. That was a true moment of rebirth for national pride, akin to what we'll be experiencing in 2026 everywhere, not just in Milan, Cortina, Bormio, Livigno, Predazzo, Anterselva, Valtellina, Cadore, and the surrounding areas?
Reading here and there, reliable, quality sources indicate that the political signal is even more explicit. Minister of Sport Andrea Abodi called Rome 2040 "a dream that requires a few weeks of reflection," specifying that "an announcement isn't necessarily needed to build a winning bid; it's possible." CONI President Luciano Buonfiglio also pointed to the capital as the natural host: "A percentage of the facilities there have already been built. I believe our country deserves another Summer Olympics, because they were stolen from us once." And I can already see a new Abebe Bikila dancing barefoot on the cobblestones of the capital, like Roberto Bolle, who at the Verona Arena on February 22, 2026, practically launched the bridge to Rome 2040, dancing in the clouds of dreams achieved.
Chest out and full speed ahead. Perhaps, this time, we won't be running up against conceptual biases.
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