An unprecedented four-site, dual-cauldron Winter Olympics opening ceremony replete with references to Italian icons and culture is scheduled to officially start the Milan Cortina Games.

With the largest geographic footprint in Olympic history at roughly 10,000 square miles, the 2026 Games had to get creative.

Friday's ceremony marks the start of the 25th Winter Games

The Milan Winter Olympics were meant to start with a celebration, but the Games hit turbulence even before the opening ceremony on February 6. From unfinished infrastructure and logistical headaches to ongoing climate concerns,

Ms. Meloni’s conservative government has focused on law and order since taking office in October 2022. A security decree passed in June 2025 created more than a dozen new crimes, including protest activity in prisons and migrant centers, and made some kinds of demonstrations punishable with up to two years in prison.

ROME (AP) — Italy has foiled a series of cyberattacks targeting some of its foreign ministry offices, including one in Washington, as well as Winter Olympics websites and hotels in Cortina d’Ampezzo,

Italy has thwarted a series of cyberattacks targeting its foreign ministry facilities, including an embassy in Washington, as well as websites linked to the Winter Olympics

U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Milan with his family Thursday, telling U.S. athletes competing in the Milan Cortina Winter Games that the competition "is one of the few things that unites the entire country" before taking his family to see a hockey game.