Overview
- Large crowds gather each evening at Milan’s Arco della Pace to watch the Olympic cauldron light-and-music show.
- The Milan ritual runs hourly from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. for about four to five minutes to a score by composer Roberto Cacciapaglia.
- Two cauldrons in Milan and Cortina were lit simultaneously for the first time and will burn through the Olympics, then be extinguished on Feb. 22, relit for the Paralympics on Mar. 6, and finally extinguished on Mar. 15.
- Marco Balich designed the cauldrons with forms drawn from Leonardo da Vinci’s geometric studies to serve as expressive, public-facing focal points.
- The structures were engineered with Fincantieri and built in Yorkshire from aeronautical aluminum, with smaller flame receptacles to curb gas use.