2026 Olympic Winter Games Reveals Plans for Double Cauldron

Organizers of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan-Cortina have unveiled ambitious plans for an Opening Ceremony that will be held in four locations across Northern Italy and will include two cauldrons, underscoring the widespread nature of the upcoming Games.

The Games’ unique double cauldrons will be in public spaces and will be lit simultaneously in Milan’s Arco della Pace and in Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Piazza Dibona. The cauldron design has also been revealed, which will include a sun-like structure inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s knots design — a geometric, interlacing shape symbolizing “the harmony between nature and human ingenuity.”

The cauldrons will be made of aeronautical aluminum and will be designed to expand and contract, revealing and safeguarding the Olympic Flame. The variable geometry will have a diameter that expands from 3.1 meters when closed to 4.5 meters when open. The mechanical system integrates 244 pivot points and 1,440 components, mounted on pins and bearings. And the flame itself will be enclosed in a glass-and-metal container, making use of sustainable scenic effects with low acoustic impact and minimal smoke emissions.

There will also be nightly performances at each location in which the cauldrons will activate throughout the Games for the viewing public to experience.

“We have crafted an object that at the top of the hour every hour will perform enlarging and closing, with some very moving and epic music,” said Creative Lead Marco Balich. “I expect that to become a viral social media sensation because the Olympic flame and the cauldron represent a lot. But with this system of enlarging the motion around it, I think it will become something the younger generation on social media will grasp big time.”

Four Opening Ceremonies

With the Games’ footprint being considerably spread out — including three separate clusters in the mountains — and the mountain and city activities being hours apart, organizers are technically planning four ceremonies in which athletes will be able to walk in the Parade of Nations at each location.

While the main ceremony will be held in Milan’s San Siro Stadium, home to AC Milan, the others in the mountain areas will seek to incorporate the ceremony in their own way to enhance the athlete experience. For the viewing audience, athletes from each country will be shown entering their individual venues at the same time.

“Imagine a fashion show where you have people coming in front,” Balich said. “Our idea, our effort is focused on making that effort for when we come from Milano we’ll have a seamless broadcast passage from one location to the next. We, together with the Olympic Broadcast Service, have put a lot of effort to make sure this goes as smooth as possible, knowing we are in different locations.”

At the main ceremony in Milan, a star-studded list of performers has been announced that include several Italian personalities as well as global music stars Mariah Carey, who will sing in Italian, and Andrea Bocelli.

The theme for the ceremony is “armonia,” which Balich described as “different sounds that together are a better sound.” The 2.5-hour ceremony will be defined by four catwalks that bring a concentric center to the stadium. Athletes at the stadium will be positioned near the Olympic flag and near where speeches will be made by Olympic dignitaries. A smaller scale ceremony will take place in Cortina, with athletes at the other two mountain locations taking part in even smaller ceremonies.

“The celebrities of the ceremony are the athletes, coming from more than 100 countries from around the world,” Balich said. “We can’t wait to see the energy, the dream in their eyes.”