The Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony Was a Playful Celebration of Italian Culture: TV Review

The winter Olympic games are often seen as more of an appendix to their larger summertime counterparts than a tentpole in themselves. But in 2026, the parallels between Milan — which co-hosts the 25th winter Olympics with Cortina d’Ampezzo, a ski town near the Austrian border — and 2024 host city Paris are impossible to ignore. They also paid dividends in an opening ceremony that, much like the Seine-set one a year and a half ago, drew on the traditions of a European cultural capital to deliver a playful, detail-dense tone setter for the weeks to come. (The ceremony was covered live on NBC and its affiliated streaming service Peacock, preceded by an acknowledgement of “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie’s absence amid the ongoing search for her missing mother.) Even if Milan’s ceremony didn’t match the Paris one in scale, it made for an equally enthusiastic welcome to the world’s largest sporting event.

Related Stories

Trevor Noah Mocks Donald Trump's Friendship With Jeffrey Epstein During Grammys: 'What Are You Going to Do About It?'

Trevor Noah Roasts Nicki Minaj at Grammys for Going MAGA: 'She's Still at the White House With Donald Trump'

From a dance number that paid homage to the works of sculptor Antonio Canova to a performance of the iconic Puccini aria “Nessun dorma” by singer Andrea Bocelli, the ceremony’s producers opted to emphasize Italian identity throughout. (Apart from a random-seeming cameo by Charlize Theron to encourage peace among nations, that is. At least Mariah Carey sang a bit of Italian when she covered “Volare”!) The creative portion of the ceremony, bracketing the parade of athletes led by guides in full-length parka gowns, spanned high art and low: a procession of models in suits by the namesake house of the late designer Giorgio Armani in the hues of the tricolor Italian flag and a gloriously goofy, Eurovision-esque dance number led by Sabrina Impacciatore of “The White Lotus” and “The Paper.” The Italian ethos spans both refined tailoring and shiny metallic ski suits paired with face glitter, and the ceremony reflected both extremes.

While Impacciatore is known to international audiences thanks to her work in American TV, the ceremony incorporated other Italian talents who have yet to become as recognizable on the world stage. Actress and comedian Brenda Lodigiani performed a miming act riffing on the Italian trope of communicating with one’s hands, while actor Pierfrancesco Favino staged a dramatic reading of Giacamo Leopardi’s famous poem “L’Infinito.” Model Vittoria Ceretti, best known stateside for her romantic relationship with Leonardo Dicaprio, acted as a courier for the Italian flag. 

The deployment of local talent, which extended even to figures outside the entertainment industry like astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, was a meaningful gesture. But the apotheosis of the ceremony arrived early, and had little to do with individual personalities. An ecstatic dance to Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” united a rainbow-hued cast — dressed as everything from Rome’s Colosseum to Milan’s Duomo to dress cutouts to Moka pots — under three enormous tubes of paint, each representing a primary color. The segment was a gloriously chaotic tribute to Italy’s successes across the arts, and carried the tone even through slower lulls like a call for peace by rapper Ghali, featuring the aforementioned Theron cameo. (Though it is amusing to think of United States Vice President JD Vance, who attended the ceremony with the Second Lady, listening to Theron’s definition of peace as prosperity regardless of race, class or sexuality. Come to think of it, the entire uniting theme of “Armonia,” an agreeable platitude about harmony among nations, felt pointed in the presence of the isolationist Vance.)

Like the games themselves, the ceremony was split between Milan’s San Siro Stadium and Alpine venues like Rasen-Antholz, with two separate cauldrons lit via Olympic flame at the evening’s end. The divided focus could sometimes be awkward; I pity the athletes who had to trudge through a snowy street instead of circumnavigating the stadium. But the ceremony did serve to highlight the breadth of Italian geography along with the breadth of Italian culture. The winter Olympics will likely never feel as major as their warm-weather siblings. They can still create grandeur and hometown pride in and of themselves.