Italy closed the curtain on its Winter Olympics on Sunday with style, pride and a clear nod to the future, delivering its final bow beneath the ancient stones of the Verona Arena, where an open-air ceremony fused opera, ballet and sporting triumph in a setting nearly 2,000 years old.
The Milan-Cortina Winter Games, co-hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, stretched across 22,000 square kilometers of northern Italy, linking city ice rinks with Alpine slopes near the Austrian and Swiss borders, cross-country trails in Val di Fiemme and sliding tracks carved into the Dolomites.
Over 17 days and 116 medal events, the blueprint held firm as organizers relied largely on existing venues, limited environmental strain, filled grandstands and avoided the logistical chaos that often dogs sprawling Olympics.
“You delivered a new kind of Winter Games and set a very high standard for the future,” International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry told organizers while declaring the Games closed in her first Olympics at the helm.
Soon after, the twin cauldrons in Milan and Cortina were extinguished, their flames fading by video link inside the Arena as the Olympic flag was handed to representatives of the French Alps, hosts of the 2030 Winter Games.
Competing on home snow and ice, Italy produced its finest Winter Olympic performance, collecting 30 medals, including 10 gold to surpass the previous mark of 20 set at Lillehammer in 1994.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, seated among dignitaries in Verona, praised the Games as a source of lasting national pride, while foundation president Giovanni Malagò told athletes their performances had united the country.
Norway finished atop the medals table with 18 gold and 41 overall, the United States placed second with 12 gold and the Netherlands secured 10, matching Italy’s gold total but trailing in overall count.
The closing ceremony, titled “Beauty in Action,” leaned deeply into Italian culture as opera figures emerged from mirrored crates in tribute to the Arena’s famed summer festival and arias drifted into the cool night air.
DJ Gabry Ponte transformed the amphitheater into a dance floor, lifting 1,500 athletes to their feet amid bursts of confetti, while ballet star Roberto Bolle delivered an aerial performance inside a blazing ring of light before descending onto a stage styled like the Venetian lagoon.
Singer Achille Lauro closed the night with “Incoscienti Giovani,” saluting the youthful daring that defined the Games.
Security around the Arena was tight, with helicopters overhead and restricted access to Piazza Bra, and earlier in the day hundreds marched through Verona to protest housing costs and environmental concerns tied to the Olympics.
Inside the amphitheater, however, the mood was relaxed as athletes filmed the spectacle on their phones and mingled freely, even if some seats remained empty despite ticket prices ranging from 950 to 2,900 euros.
Verona Mayor Damiano Tommasi, a former professional footballer, described the historic setting as unprecedented in Olympic history and suggested Italy could again pursue a Summer Games, with Rome last having hosted in 1960.
The final day delivered both history and high drama.
Norway’s Johannes Klaebo collected one of his six gold medals during the ceremony, completing a perfect sweep of his events and lifting his career tally to 11 gold, a Winter Olympic record.
In freestyle skiing, Eileen Gu captured halfpipe gold after earlier silvers, executing a precise and soaring run to edge teammate Li Fanghui and Britain’s Zoe Atkin and become the most decorated freestyle skier in Winter Olympic history.
The men’s ice hockey final supplied a classic North American duel as the United States edged Canada 2 to 1 in overtime to secure their first Olympic gold since 1980, with Jack Hughes scoring 1 minute 41 seconds into the extra period after Matt Boldy had opened the scoring and Cale Makar equalized.
The victory revived memories of Lake Placid’s “Miracle on Ice,” and coach Mike Sullivan praised a roster built on character and resilience amid heightened political tension between Washington and Ottawa.
Attention now turns to Los Angeles, which will host the next Summer Olympics in two years as the IOC seeks to refine its commercial model and navigate the persistent tension between sport and politics, before the Winter Games move to France in 2030 with another multi-venue approach.
