The Olympic flame for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will begin its journey with the traditional lighting ceremony in Olympia, in Greece, before travelling to Athens, where the Hellenic Olympic Committee –HOC– will officially hand it over to the Italian organisers as part of the ceremony overseen by the International Olympic Committee –IOC–. From there, the flame will be transported to Rome for the start of the national relay at the Stadio dei Marmi, carrying an institutional message of peace and friendship on its path to the Opening Ceremony in Milan.
Throughout its route, the relay is designed to cover 12,000 kilometres, passing through all 110 Italian provinces and more than 300 municipalities, with 60 cities selected to host end-of-day celebrations. Each stage is scheduled to begin around 7:30 in the morning and conclude with the lighting of a local cauldron, forming part of a nationwide celebration involving 10,001 torchbearers across the country.
Crossing the country and connecting with communities
Before arriving in Italy, the flame will complete a first segment in Greece, beginning with the lighting in Olympia and continuing to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. This historic venue will host the symbolic handover from the HOC to the Milano Cortina 2026 Organising Committee, in coordination with the IOC, marking the start of the flame’s journey towards the Olympic Winter Games on Italian soil.
Once in Italy, the relay will depart from the Stadio dei Marmi in Rome and travel through every region of the country, combining major urban centres with smaller towns. The route will include stages in areas such as Tuscany, Sardinia, Sicily and the archaeological site of Pompeii, as well as a strong presence in the south, where the flame will spend Christmas in Naples and New Year’s Eve in Bari, reinforcing the intention to bring the Olympic spirit to regions less traditionally associated with winter sports.
Heritage, iconic landscapes and Olympic history along the route
The relay has also been conceived as a showcase of Italy’s historical and cultural heritage, with planned visits to emblematic landmarks such as the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain in Rome, the Piazza del Campo in Siena, and several locations recognised as World Heritage Sites. It will also include natural settings of great significance, such as the Marmore Falls in Umbria, highlighting the country’s landscape diversity.
The itinerary features distinctive segments including a passage along the Grand Canal in Venice, stretches of the Amalfi Coast, and an ascent to Punta Gnifetti, in the Monte Rosa massif, one of the highest points reached by the torch. In the final stages, the flame will arrive in Cortina d’Ampezzo, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the Opening Ceremony of the 1956 Olympic Winter Games, before continuing on to Milan and entering San Siro Stadium for the Opening Ceremony.
Other Winter Games torch relays and how to follow the 2026 route
Within the context of the Olympic Winter Games, the Milano Cortina 2026 relay sits in the mid-to-upper range in terms of distance and duration. PyeongChang 2018 delivered a 2,018-kilometre, 101-day relay across the Republic of Korea, while Vancouver 2010 carried the torch over 45,000 kilometres within Canada. Beijing 2022, in contrast, adopted a significantly reduced three-day format limited to Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, due to public health restrictions in place at the time.
The Milano Cortina 2026 relay will be supported by partners including Coca-Cola and Eni, which will organise dedicated activations along different stages of the route. Full details of each segment, participating municipalities and celebration cities are available on the official Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Torch Relay webpage, which provides an interactive map with the complete itinerary.
