Overview
- The public relay began at Rome’s Stadio dei Marmi, where Gregorio Paltrinieri ran the first leg after Giancarlo Peris handed the lantern to Giovanni Malagò to ignite the relay cauldron.
- Across 63 days the torch will cover about 12,000 kilometers through all 20 regions, visiting roughly 60 cities and 110 provinces with 10,001 torchbearers before reaching San Siro for the Feb. 6 opening.
- The Rome stage includes landmark stops from St. Peter’s Square to the Colosseum, concluding with an evening cauldron-lighting and concert in Piazza del Popolo.
- A day earlier at the Quirinale, President Sergio Mattarella ceremonially lit the flame and urged renewal of the Olympic truce as IOC president Kirsty Coventry highlighted the Games’ spirit of non‑discrimination.
- Creative director Marco Balich says the opening will be a first‑of‑its‑kind dual ceremony in Milan and Cortina with two cauldrons, four athlete parades across Milan, Cortina, Livigno and Predazzo, and about 4,000 extras.