A Tale of Two Olympic Experiences in Italy
While the 2026 Winter Games proudly bear the name ‘Milan,’ it’s truly in the charming mountain towns where the Olympic spirit is bursting into life, according to enthusiastic fans.
Imagine Bormio, a historic medieval town nestled deep in the Italian Alps. Here, thousands of spectators, many without tickets, gathered excitedly over the weekend for the men’s downhill skiing race. They packed the streets at the base of the challenging Stelvio course, creating a lively buzz that even briefly halted traffic.
“We all made a point to be here,” shared Lucia Gerber, 33, a Bormio local who watched the race alongside her father. Her only wish? “Though we could use more big screens!”
These 25th Winter Olympics have transformed the town into a delightful community festival. Residents stroll along cobblestone streets and relax on chalet balconies, practically within a snowball’s toss of the world’s elite skiers racing down the slopes.
However, about 130 miles away in Milan, the Games’ primary host city, the atmosphere is distinctly different.
In Milan, athletes and spectators share the subway with daily commuters and schoolchildren, traveling to venues scattered across the sprawling city. Olympic branding is minimal, and the most significant gatherings are often found outside the iconic Gothic Duomo cathedral, where a large Olympics megastore has become a focal point.
At times, Milan feels more like it’s hosting a medium-sized business convention rather than a world-class sporting spectacle.
“Have you been to Milano?” asked Gianluca Lorenzi, the mayor of Cortina d’Ampezzo, a luxurious ski resort in the Dolomites and the Games’ secondary hub. He didn’t hesitate to highlight the contrast. “This is so different. In Cortina, you can truly feel the Olympic atmosphere.”
“If you go to Milan,” he added, “it’s impersonal.”
Indeed, the vast distances are a defining characteristic of these Games, stretching across nearly 8,500 square miles. This was a deliberate choice by Olympic officials, who encouraged organizers to utilize existing sports venues instead of constructing many new ones. The idea was to offer visitors a diverse Italian experience: the rich history and style of Milan (hosting skating and hockey) combined with the alpine charm of towns like Bormio, Livigno, and Cortina (hosting skiing, snowboarding, and sliding sports).
Competition sites at the Winter Olympics
An illustrative map highlighting the various competition sites across Northern Italy for the Winter Olympics, including Milan and several mountain towns. (Credit: Leanne Abraham/The New York Times)
However, for many spectators, this geographical spread has diluted the customary Olympic energy. Veterans of previous Winter Games praised Milan’s beauty and cosmopolitan vibe but expressed a longing for the concentrated excitement of athletes and fans all in one place.
“It does affect the vibe, to be honest,” remarked Debbie Bowe, mother of American speedskater Brittany Bowe, outside the Duomo on Sunday.
“Here, with few different venues, we don’t have the blessing to jump on a quick train ride to just watch the bobsledding,” she said of Milan. “So we’re pretty much just focused around the ice on this trip, which I’m not complaining about. But it’s different.” (Her daughter achieved a fourth-place finish in the women’s 1,000 meters that Monday.)
Given the widespread pandemic-related absence of spectators from the 2022 Beijing Games, many athletes were overjoyed to compete in front of live crowds once more. Yet, even the athletes are dispersed, residing in six separate Olympic villages spread across northern Italy’s various venues.
Tim Puttre, a Los Angeles resident on his fourth Olympics trip, voiced his disappointment regarding Milan’s muted excitement while strolling near the Duomo.
“I’m not happy about it for the athletes,” he stated. “There’s no one gathering and talking. Usually, the Olympic experience involves a central town or downtown area where everyone converges.”
The official motto for the 2026 Olympics is “IT’s your vibe,” with “IT” signifying Italy. Christophe Dubi, the executive director for the International Olympic Committee, dismissed a reporter’s suggestion that Milan lacked atmosphere.
“I am feeling the vibe,” Mr. Dubi asserted. “Are you feeling the vibe?”
He then promptly extolled the mountain towns. He claimed that if one visited Livigno or Cortina and didn’t sense the Olympic atmosphere, they “are from another planet.”
To be fair, the discrepancy is partly due to simple demographics. Milan, a bustling commercial and fashion hub of 1.3 million, allows Olympic crowds to easily blend in. Conversely, Cortina, Bormio, and the other mountain towns, each home to just a few thousand permanent residents, are experiencing the biggest event of their lifetimes — though Cortina did host the Winter Games back in 1956.
In Cortina, “the winter sport feeling is here,” said Andreas Ehret, standing in line outside the official Olympic souvenir shop, wrapped in a unique poncho fashioned from German flags.
He and his partner, Sabrina Kreis, had watched cross-country skiing in Tesero, a Dolomite village famous for its arts and crafts, and were planning to head to Anterselva, near the Austrian border, for the biathlon. Their next stop would be ice hockey in Milan, an event they looked forward to, but not quite as much as the mountain experience.
Sandy Cavinato, a resident of Switzerland with a vacation home in Cortina, stated unequivocally that Milan was not an ideal host. “Maybe for the Summer Olympics, but not winter,” she commented.
In contrast, the smaller towns have offered a more intimate Olympic feel. American skier Alex Hall, a silver medalist in slopestyle, noted the atmosphere in Livigno as distinctly different and positive compared to his previous two Winter Games experiences in Pyeongchang (2018) and Beijing.
“It feels less Olympic-y and more homey,” he explained in an interview. “It’s almost calming. It doesn’t blow everything out of proportion.”
Scott Colby from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, whose 19-year-old son, Jason Colby, competed in ski jumping, joined other athlete families in a Saturday parade organized by local Olympic officials in Predazzo, a Dolomite town of approximately 4,500 people. The event attracted around 500 participants.
“I thought it was just going to be walking down the road, but there were people lined up in the street and a funk band leading us,” he recounted. “Predazzo really got into it.”
Not all mountain residents have universally embraced the Games. In Cortina, many complained about Olympic-related construction disrupting their picturesque town. Bormio residents also spent months grumbling about logistical and security concerns related to the Games, as Richi Gerber, 68, observed while watching the men’s downhill from the street below. They worried that high ticket prices would deter attendees.
“This morning, I checked one last time — 2,600 euros ($3,100)” for the most expensive seats, he said, shaking his head.
However, for local residents, ticket prices were a non-issue. They simply walked to the end of the course and joined the impromptu street party for free.
The celebration intensified after Italian skiers Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris secured silver and bronze medals in downhill skiing, following Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland. A DJ at an après-ski cafe blared Nirvana and AC/DC, while a waiter skillfully navigated trays of Aperol spritzes through a packed patio.
Friends Samantha Sosio and Valentina Martinelli, both 25, shared that they had walked about half an hour from their homes to be at the finish line.
“Now,” said Ms. Sosio, proudly draped in an Italian flag, “it feels like we’re truly embracing the Olympics.”