Olympics-Milano Cortina Games to open with unique co-hosted opening ceremony

By Keith Weir and Julien Pretot

MILAN/CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 6 (Reuters) – The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will officially open later on Friday with a ceremony combining elements from the co-hosts, seeking to reflect both city and mountain life and preaching a wider message of harmony.

With U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio due to join royals and heads of state for the main ceremony in Milan’s San Siro soccer stadium, Italian authorities tightened security around the area in the north of the city.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in another part of the Italian financial capital to oppose the presence of analysts from a department that falls under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

More local issues such as  the closure of schools and streets in the city have also irked some Milanese.

U.S. pop diva Mariah Carey and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform in the San Siro for the ceremony which begins at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT).

TWO CAULDRONS TO BURN DURING GAMES

The opening will be unique as co-host Cortina d’Ampezzo will join the celebrations from more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) away in the mountains, in a spectacle expected to draw a huge global audience on television and online.

Athletes will also parade in the mountain venues of Livigno and Predazzo, in a Games spread over 22,000 square kilometres.

For the first time, two Olympic cauldrons, one of the symbols of the Games, will be lit simultaneously and burn throughout – one at Milan’s Arco della Pace (Peace Arch) and the other in Cortina’s Piazza Dibona.

THE THEME OF HARMONY

The International Olympic Committee is hoping the opening ceremony will be a show of respect for athletes from around the world, with politics set to one side.

The ceremony will be entitled “Armonia” (harmony) and will celebrate the diversity of Italian life from fashionable Milan to the smaller mountain towns in the Alps that host the outdoor events at the Games, which run until February 22.

Tickets for the main event at the historic soccer stadium, home to Serie A clubs AC Milan and Inter, cost from 260 euros to a fitting if punchy price of 2,026 euros.

Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, two of Italy’s most successful Alpine skiers, have been tipped to have the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldrons, but the names of those involved and the format have not been disclosed.

(Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Toby Davis)