Italy closes Winter Olympics in Verona

Italy closed the Winter Olympics with an open-air ceremony in Verona’s ancient Arena, celebrating sport and culture after Games praised for their organization and environmental approach. Co-hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo and staged across northern Italy, the Winter Games delivered a record haul of 30 medals for the host nation and were hailed as a model for using existing venues to limit environmental impact—a blueprint reportedly eyed for the 2030 French Alps Games.

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry lauded the hosts for delivering “a new kind of Winter Games” and setting a high standard for future editions. The ceremony, titled “Beauty in Action,” combined ballet, opera and contemporary music, featuring an aerial performance by dancer Roberto Bolle and a musical tribute by DJ-producer Gabry Ponte. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised the Games for bringing prestige to Italy; she attended the event in the Roman amphitheatre that provides a dramatic, historic backdrop in Verona’s city centre.

Security was tight around the 2,000-year-old venue, with restricted access and aerial surveillance; some tourists found Piazza Bra cordoned off. Hundreds of protesters marched earlier in the city to oppose housing pressures and environmental damage they attribute to hosting the Games, warning of concrete incuAFsion into fragile land and social inequality. Despite those demonstrations, the closing ceremony’s tone was celebratory, though some athlete seats remained empty on a chilly evening. Ticket prices ranged from about €950 to €2,900, drawing attention to the event’s cost.

Organisers handed the Olympic flag to representatives of the next host and presented a short preview from the 2030 organisers. The Games also spotlighted broader IOC priorities, including a renewed business model and efforts to separate sport from politics ahead of the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Local officials and the mayor of Verona described staging the ceremony in the Arena as unprecedented in Olympic history, underlining Italy’s intent to fuse athletic achievement with cultural heritage. As the flame was extinguished, the Games concluded amid applause for athletes, organisers and the cities that staged competitions across the region.