"I think we can all agree that Italy owns beauty somehow,” says Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services. It’s a generous compliment – especially coming from a Greek – yet anyone who has been to Italy knows exactly what he means. Few places stir the senses quite like il bel paese, a land that has shaped our very understanding of beauty for millennia.

For any Olympic Games, such a legacy is both a gift and a challenge. It offers immense inspiration – and an equally heavy weight of clichés to overcome. When Exarchos’s cameras turn toward the territories of Milano Cortina 2026 in February, audiences will already carry their own visions of Italy.

Even those who have never been have almost certainly absorbed its cultural exports: from postcard visions of Roman ruins and Renaissance masterpieces to the sculpted poise of a Ferrari, the cinematic excess of Fellini and the quiet poetry of Vespas gleaming in the sun or plates of pasta served on red-and-white tablecloths.

The challenge for Milano Cortina 2026 lies in honouring that beloved cultural heritage while revealing something new – something alive. Because while Italy is often sold as a series of beautiful images, what truly makes people fall in love with it is its energy.

Raffaella Paniè, who, as Director of Brand, Identity and Look of the Games for Milano Cortina 2026, was entrusted with translating that spirit into a visual language. The result is a Look of the Games defined not by image but by movement. Friends gesticulating in conversation, a maestro summoning music with his arms, a pizzaiolo spinning dough in the air or a skier carving down a mountain – the idea was to capture the human gestures behind the nation’s talents and achievements.

The emblem appears as if traced by a finger on a foggy window; pictograms, drawn in single fluid lines, echo the athletes’ movements. A new graphic element, the “Vibes”, translates the pulse of sport into colour and geometry. Italian avant-garde artists and designers such as Lucio Fontana, Carlo Mollino and Ettore Sottsass inspired the creative direction, but their influence is felt less in form than in spirit: the transformation of feeling into shape, colour and energy.

“The Italian spirit is dynamic, vibrant and contemporary,” Paniè notes, pointing to the Games’ mascots, the zippy stoats Milo and Tina, as embodiments of that vitality.

In the same spirit, the Milano Cortina 2026 motto, “IT’s Your Vibe”, feels less like a slogan and more like an invitation. “We don’t want to tell people what we are; we want them to bring their own impressions to the Games,” insists Paniè.

The motto places people – athletes, volunteers, visitors and locals alike – at the heart of the experience, inviting the world to both feel and contribute to the energy animating Milano Cortina 2026. In its vast embrace of people and places, it also aims to reveal an Italy beyond stereotypes: one where winter traditions coexist with Mediterranean flair, gastronomy extends far beyond pizza and pasta, and a new generation of creatives – artists, designers and chefs – breathe new life into the country’s timeless arts.

Art and culture

If the Milano Cortina 2026 motto were an image, it would probably, and aptly, look a lot like the Olympic Games’ Iconic Poster. Created by celebrated Italian illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli, Visione Olimpica depicts, in Zagnoli’s signature bold style, a close-up of a character wearing the Olympic rings as glasses, with the mountains as a backdrop and playful nods to Italy’s fashion sensibility. In other words, it places the spectator at the centre of the Olympic spectacle.

“The idea is to celebrate not only the athletes but also those attending the Games in all their uniqueness,” says Zagnoli, echoing the participatory spirit behind “IT’s Your Vibe”.

Likewise, the Milano Cortina 2026 Art Posters also celebrate participation and the unique perspectives each brings to the Games. Ten young artists were selected to offer their personal interpretations of Milano Cortina 2026 in 10 posters (five Olympic and five Paralympic).

Damiano Gullì, Curator for Contemporary Art and Public Programmes at Triennale Milano, which collaborated with the Organising Committee on both the Iconic and Art Posters commissions. The resulting collection is vibrant and varied – exploring everything from play, community and even childhood memories associated with the Milano Cortina 2026 territories.

Beyond posters, art and sport have long shared a friendly relationship at the Olympic Games – from the founding of the modern Games, when art was awarded medals alongside sport, to today’s Cultural Olympiad. This multi-year programme turns the Games into a nationwide festival of creativity, and for Milano Cortina 2026, the programme is renewed with Italian artistry.

A public ballet class by Roberto Bolle at the Duomo in Milan, specially commissioned operas and orchestral pieces that speak to Olympic values, exhibitions that explore the country’s Alpine traditions and even ice-sculpting competitions are included on the vast programme. Taking over museums, theatres, convents, castles and public squares across the Milano Cortina 2026 territories, these events have already begun and will continue to showcase the country’s boundless creativity throughout the next year.

Design

In Italy, the dialogue between form and function has given way to one of the world’s most pioneering industrial design scenes, one that transforms everyday objects – from kettles and corkscrews to cars – into sensual icons. For Milano Cortina 2026, that legacy finds expression in the Olympic torch and medals: objects of immense symbolic weight reimagined through simplicity and movement.

Created by design studio Carlo Ratti Associati, the torch – named “Essential” – embodies restraint.

The result is a sleek piece that seems to move with the relay itself, catching the sky, the snow and passing faces in its reflective surface.

Developed by Eni with Versalis, and engineered and produced by Cavagna, “Essential” is entirely made in Italy, crafted from recycled aluminium and brass.

A narrow opening at the top reveals the torch’s inner workings. “The torch’s core is something very sophisticated but the design exercise is usually about covering it, similar to car design where you build something around the engine,” explains Ratti, “What we wanted to do is to minimise what we put around the core, and not to do something redundant for the sake of form.”

The same pursuit for essence shaped the design of the Milano Cortina 2026 medals. While victory is often portrayed as a single moment, these medals tell the full story. Designed to appear as two halves coming together, they reflect the special unity necessary for victory – between the athlete and his or her wider circle of team-mates, family, friends and fans. The duality also mirrors the Games’ unique model, shared between two host cities for the first time.

“With our medals, we celebrate the strength of differences,” says Paniè, who helmed the team in charge of the design.

Crafted in collaboration with the Italian State Mint – whose school of medal art has trained master engravers since 1907 – the gold, silver and bronze pieces combine two textures: one smooth, one granular with subtle raised edges, creating a dynamic effect, as if the medals were coming together before our eyes.

“Like much of our visual identity, the medals are inspired by the human gesture, a symbol of expressiveness and movement,” concludes Paniè.

Food and hospitality

Declaring one’s love for Italian food has become a cliché, but the truth is there’s really no such thing as “Italian” food – not really. The country’s culinary identity splinters into hundreds of local traditions: dishes, ingredients and customs that change from one town to the next.

“That’s what’s interesting about Milano Cortina 2026 – we’ll have the chance to showcase a truly diverse culinary heritage,” says Carlo Zarri, Culinary Director for On Location, the Games’ Official Hospitality Provider responsible for creating exclusive dining and lounge experiences reserved for guests purchasing its premium packages.

From Milan’s creamy saffron risottos – the city sits in Europe’s largest rice-producing region – to the salumi (or cured meats) and mountain cheeses of Valtellina, and the Austrian influences in Bolzano, with its apple strudels, dumplings and local Lagrein wines, Milano Cortina 2026 will shine a light on a rich and lesser-known side of Italian gastronomy.

“We guarantee you won’t find pasta alfredo or amatriciana here,” laughs Zarri, who enlisted the territory’s many culinary schools to assemble the 600-strong team of chefs and cooks who’ll be serving On Location venues throughout the Games.

But even those without an On Location package will have no trouble finding good, authentic food across the Milano Cortina 2026 territories. Authenticity is simply what’s on the menu in many of the regions.

While Milan has long embraced a cosmopolitan dining scene, many of the towns high in the Alps – isolated for centuries – offer a deeply rooted kind of cooking. Here, family recipes and foraged ingredients define the table: boar and deer seasoned with wild herbs, polenta paired with foraged mushrooms and aged cheeses. Along the slopes, rifugi – once shepherds’ lodges – welcome visitors with comforting Alpine dishes.

Rustic, however, doesn’t mean unsophisticated: these regions are host to a wide array of awarded restaurants, which marry local produce with refined technique and plenty of creativity.

Hospitality follows the same philosophy. “There are barely any chain hotels in these mountains,” Zarri notes. “Most hotels are family-run – sometimes for three or four generations.”

Luxury here is a matter of personal touch – ski instructors who grew up on these slopes and know every curve, hoteliers who share their best local secrets and guide guests on mountain hikes.

The worlds of podiums and pillows are also more connected than meets the eye here: it’s not uncommon to discover that your hotelier is an Olympian or that the person teaching you to carve turns on the piste also owns a remarkable little hotel down in the valley. Deborah Compagnoni – triple Olympic gold medallist in Alpine skiing – runs a four-star hotel with her family in Valtellina. The family of Gustav Thöni, the legendary Olympic giant slalom champion, are seasoned hoteliers with four establishments in Trafoi. And in Cortina, Kristian Ghedina – a local icon and Olympic Alpine skier – owns a beloved restaurant in town, while his father continues to run one of the historic hotels.

In between competitions, Milano Cortina 2026 spectators will have the chance to immerse themselves in truly local traditions, with experiences – from ski safaris that take you from lodge to lodge and horseback rides through the valleys – revealing a different spirit of travel: less about arriving, more about journeying.

Fashion

Walk down any street in Milan and it’s clear why the city ranks among the world’s “Big Four” fashion capitals. Italians don’t just wear clothes – jackets, skirts and trousers seem to embody them; perfectly tailored yet worn with ease, making elegance feel effortless. If Paris is exuberant, New York cosmopolitan and London experimental, Italy’s genius lies in its devotion to detail, fit and craftsmanship.

Milan has produced countless fashion icons, but perhaps none who redefined tailoring like Giorgio Armani – the maestro who transformed the way the world dresses over a five-decade career. Il Signor Armani, as he is respectfully known in Italy, was also a passionate sports enthusiast: a familiar face at basketball and football matches, a designer of capsule collections for major teams, and even an investor in them. Through his sportswear line, EA7 Emporio Armani, he had dressed Team Italia for the Olympic Games since London 2012, with Milano Cortina 2026 standing as a graceful culmination of his contributions.

A tribute to Armani is expected at the Opening Ceremony, where Team Italia will have the honour of parading in one of the late designer’s final creations – an elegant milky-white kit which, in his own words, distils sport’s values in a vision of “simplicity, clarity and purity”.

Yet the influence of Italian fashion at Milano Cortina 2026 will extend beyond the ceremony, rippling both on and off the field of play. From athletes donning sartorial gear to the street style glimpsed both in Milan and Cortina (the latter with its own flamboyant, mountain-chic flair), style is certain to be as much a spectacle as sport itself.

Another symbolic fashion moment at the Games lies in the Victory Ceremony costumes – the garments worn by volunteers carrying medals to the podium. The design emerged from a competition among Milan’s leading fashion schools, with the winning proposal created by a group of first-year master’s students at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera.

Inspired by the Games’ visual identity and the expressive Italian gesture, the students designed blue ensembles in classic cuts speckled with audacity: subtle gold piping tracing the jackets and a delicate gold spray along the trousers.

“Blue is very Italian, and gold is powerful, glamorous – fitting for the occasion,” explains Francesca Liberatore, the Brera professor who led the group.

Their designs honour Italy’s tailoring traditions – clean lines inspired by the silhouettes of the 1950s. For men, straight wool trousers in a wide cut; for women, details in the knitwear and trousers that accentuate the waist and celebrate, as Liberatore notes, “the proportions of the typical Southern Italian body”. The men’s basco hats, also drawn from the country’s southern heritage, add another nod to regional identity, while materials were chosen with the sporting context in mind: wool, knitwear, quilted nylon and sturdy boots suitable for both Alpine and indoor settings.

The result is a uniform that bears the unmistakable “Made in Italy” signature – elegant, understated and discreetly glamorous. It embodies the prestige of the moment while keeping the spotlight where it belongs: on the athletes themselves.