The Olympic flame for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games touched down in Rome on Thursday, marking Italy's first hosting of the symbolic fire since the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. Transported in a ceremonial lantern aboard an ITA Airways flight from Athens, the flame was greeted by tennis champion Jasmine Paolini – a 2024 Paris Summer Games gold medalist – and Local Organizing Committee President Giovanni Malago.
"I feel honored. It's an incredible emotion," Paolini remarked during the arrival ceremony before the flame was transferred to the presidential complex. A historic 63-day torch relay spanning 12,000 kilometers will launch this Saturday, traversing all 110 Italian provinces before illuminating the San Siro Stadium at the February 6 opening ceremony.
The flame was formally transferred earlier Thursday at Athens' Panathenaic Stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896. Malago called the occasion "an inspiring reminder of the honor we have been granted" during the handover presided over by Greek and Italian officials.
On Friday, International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry will join Italian President Sergio Mattarella for a cauldron-lighting ceremony at Rome's Quirinale Palace. The subsequent relay will feature 10,001 torchbearers starting from the iconic Stadio dei Marmi, symbolizing national unity ahead of the first Winter Games in the Alps since 2006.
