Olympic swimming champion Gregorio Paltrinieri and other Summer athletes initiated the torch relay for the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games. This event took place two months before the opening ceremony scheduled for February 6. Paltrinieri proudly carried the torch around the track at the Stadio dei Marmi in Rome, which is adorned with statues. The relay covers a distance of 12,000 kilometers, passing through all 110 Italian provinces before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the grand opening.
Paltrinieri expressed his delight in being part of the Olympic movement, even though the Winter Olympics differ from his own sporting expertise. A total of 10,001 torch bearers will be participating in the relay. The inaugural day saw two groups of pro-Palestinian activists prevented from interfering with the relay route by the authorities.
Giancarlo Peris, the final torch bearer from the 1960 Rome Olympics, kickstarted the proceedings by carrying the Olympic flame in a lantern. At 84 years old, Peris fondly reminisced about lighting the cauldron at the Stadio Olimpico over six decades ago.
Paltrinieri, a gold medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, has a collection of five Olympic medals. He and his girlfriend, Rossella Fiamingo, who is a fencer, had the honor of carrying Italy’s flag at the closing ceremony of the Paris Games last year. Paltrinieri revealed his admiration for skiing, citing Alberto Tomba as one of his childhood idols.
The torch relay also featured retired fencer Elisa Di Francisca, two-time gold medalist at the 2012 London Games, and Gianmarco Tamberi, the reigning Olympic high jump champion. Other notable figures who participated in the relay included tennis player Matteo Berrettini, retired NBA player Andrea Bargnani, former motorcycle racer Max Biaggi, and actor Ricky Tognazzi, who rode a white Vespa reminiscent of a scene from the classic film “Roman Holiday.”
The torch relay, with 60 city celebrations, will stop in Naples for Christmas and in Bari for New Year’s Eve. It is set to arrive in Turin on January 11, Verona on January 18, and Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 26, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony held at the same venue.
Furthermore, a cauldron will be lit in Cortina during the opening ceremony. The relay route will pass through all of Italy’s 61 UNESCO World Heritage sites, serving as a prominent advertisement for the country. The Winter Games will be hosted across various locations in northern Italy, including Livigno, Predazzo, Milan, Bormio, and Cortina, where different sports competitions will take place.
The torch relay will continue its journey with stops in Viterbo on Sunday and Terni on Monday.
