The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games kicked off to a solid ratings start with its opening ceremony reaching seeing a 34% uptick from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The opening ceremony, which kicked off at 11 a.

Luciano Pavarotti, the Italian opera singer, previously sang the song during his final public performance at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin. Because of his health issues, the song was pre-recorded and lip-synced.

MILAN (AP) — Featuring tributes to da Vinci and Dante, Puccini and Pausini, Armani and Fellini, pasta and vino, and other iconic tastes of Italian culture — plus Mariah Carey hitting all the high notes in “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu” aka “Volare” — an unprecedented four-site,

A rousing Opening Ceremony that included everything from dancing musical notes to massive paint tubes to massive flying Olympic rings to Mariah Carey ended with a dramatic reveal as Italian legends Sofia Goggia, Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni lit the two torches that will burn for the length of the Winter Olympics.

Milan's San Siro Stadium played the role of primary host. But, in the spirit of these unusually widespread Games, simultaneous celebrations were also held in the clusters of Livigno, Predazzo and Cortina d'Ampezzo, which — for the first time ever — lit a second Olympic cauldron.

NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Milan Cortina Olympics’ flashy opening ceremony averaged 21.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, a jump of 34% from the opening for the 2022 winter games in Beijing, per preliminary data from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

Featuring planned tributes to da Vinci, Dante and other symbols of Italian culture, plus an appearance by Mariah Carey, a four-site, dual-cauldron opening ceremony kicked off the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

What it was like to be in San Siro Stadium to kick off the Winter Games

Greece, as always, will be the first country introduced in the Parade of Nations for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.