Featuring tributes to da Vinci and Dante, Puccini and Pausini, Armani and Fellini, pasta and vino, and other iconic tastes of Italian culture – plus Mariah Carey hitting all the high notes in “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu” aka “Volare” – an unprecedented four-site, dual-cauldron opening ceremony got the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics officially started Friday.
Allowing athletes to participate in the Parade of Nations at the mountain locales for the most spread-out Winter Games in history created what perhaps was an unintended consequence: Zero competitors from any of the first five countries actually showed up at the main hub, Milan’s San Siro soccer stadium.
Mariah Carey helped to get the party started with a performance of the 1950s Italian song “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” (“In the blue, painted in blue”) with its famous “Volare” (“To fly”) refrain to cheers in Milan’s San Siro stadium.
Fashion is its own competitor in any Olympics, from team uniforms at the opening and closing ceremonies to individual looks in the stadiums and – during the Winter Games – on the slopes.
There’s also the simmering rivalry between Europe’s top two fashion cities. The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics were heralded as the most stylish yet, but Milan went for gold on the heels of its annual men’s fashion week and ahead of the women’s runway previews.
The ceremony’s organisers said they sought to convey themes of harmony and peace, seeking to represent the city-mountain dichotomy of the particularly unusual setup for these Olympics while also trying to appeal to a sense of unity at a time of global tensions.
“I hope the opening ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful,” new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry said when asked this week about possible crowd reactions.
Her pleas fell on deaf ears. US Vice President JD Vance was booed by some spectators even as the US team got loud cheers.
The boos came when Vance and his wife Usha were shown on a large screen at the San Siro stadium, both applauding and waving flags as the US athletes filed past in the ceremonial parade.
One symbol of how far-flung things are at these Olympics: Instead of the usual one cauldron that is lit and burns throughout the Games, there will be two, both intended as an homage to Leonardo da Vinci’s geometric studies. One is in Milan, 4 kilometres from San Siro, and the other is going to be 400 kilometres away in Cortina.
The people given the honour of lighting both following the ceremony was a closely guarded secret, as is usually the case at any Olympics. At the 2006 Turin Games, it was Italian cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo.
The ceremony was already nearly three hours old – and not yet done – by the time Italian President Sergio Mattarella officially declared the Milan Cortina Games open following a speech by Coventry, the first woman to lead the IOC.
“Thank you for believing in the magic of the Olympic Games,” she said, then several minutes later made sure to make mention of the “media rights holders” who pay to broadcast the event.
Soon, tenor Andrea Bocelli’s voice was belting out Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” and its closing refrain of “Vincero,” Italian for “I will win!” As he concluded, torch bearers headed out of the arena toward a cauldron at the Arch of Peace.
Former Olympic champion skiers Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni lit the cauldrons in Milan, while current skiing star Sofia Goggia lit the one in Cortina.
Tomba, 59, and Compagnoni, who is 55, were part of a golden age of Italian skiing and both won Olympic titles at the Albertville Games in 1992.
Before the cauldrons were lit, Italy’s first female astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti, joined a young girl to pay tribute to the planet earth.
Cristoforetti joined the girl at a model of the solar system.
“This is the only planet where we can actually live,” the little girl said. “So I want to care and protect it with all my might.’′
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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