“The Olympics and Paralympics are a great opportunity to show the world once again who we are. The Games are a way to turn the world’s spotlight onto Italy. And I do not have to remind you what this means for our economy, for our production chains, for the excellence of our products and our industrial system”.

Those were the words of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The support that the Prime Minister and the Government have always shown for the Olympic and Paralympic project gave the Milano-Cortina 2026 Foundation the opportunity to inform the business sector about the Italian Games at a meeting that took place yesterday afternoon at the Casino del Bel Respiro, inside Rome’s Villa Pamphilj. This opportunity to share the project was promoted by the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, and was attended by the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, Francesco Lollobrigida, the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanchè, and the Minister for Institutional Reforms and Regulatory Simplification, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati.

The Foundation’s senior management, including President Giovanni Malagò, Vice-President Luca Pancalli and CEO Andrea Varnier, described to President Meloni and leading figures from Italian companies, the value and impact that the Olympic and Paralympic project has for the country. It will be everyone’s Games – all over Italy. An opportunity to witness the Italian spirit and show a global audience of more than 3 billion people the excellence of Italian territories. It will not be just Milan, or just Cortina, or just 2026: from today, and well beyond the Games, Milano Cortina 2026 will be a tangible legacy for the country and, above all, for future generations.

The first Winter Olympics and Paralympics spread over a territory of more than 22,000 square kilometres, the first with two cities in the name, Milan and Cortina, which will embrace two regions – Lombardy and Veneto – and two Autonomous Provinces – Trento and Bolzano. A great sporting spectacle that will show the world the champions of winter disciplines competing in Cortina against the backdrop of the Dolomites, a Unesco World Heritage Site – but that’s not all. In Milan there will be ice sports; the spectacular Ceremonies at the San Siro and the Arena in Verona; the biathlon at Anterselva, an international excellence of this sport; men’s downhill skiing on the legendary Stelvio in Bormio; the adrenaline of snowboarding and freestyle in Livigno; the magic of Val di Fiemme with Predazzo and Tesero, home of Nordic disciplines. An Olympics and Paralympics spread over different areas that will enhance sporting and territorial excellence, giving each sport its own perfect scenario.

A new model for the Games, conceived in accordance with the Agenda 2020 and the International Olympic Committee’s New Norm. Later, with the Paralympics, Italy will have the opportunity to contribute to the realisation of the International Paralympic Committee’s vision: “A more inclusive world thanks to Paralympic sport”. Milano Cortina 2026 as the country’s project. An opportunity and a great challenge to overcome together. “My personal and heartfelt thanks to President Meloni and the Italian Government - commented Giovanni Malagò, the President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation - for the support they have always shown towards what will be, to all intents and purposes, the most important event our country will host in the coming years. Sport has always been an excellence of our country, capable of evoking in everyone the deepest sense of national pride and unity. At the same time, it is also a powerful vehicle for inclusion that will embrace and welcome fans, media, and representatives of international federations from all over the world”.