The 2026 Winter Olympics represent something unprecedented: a Games staged not in purpose-built alpine infrastructure, but across five distinct Italian destinations, each with centuries of hospitality tradition and cultural weight that no Olympic host has previously offered. Italy, characteristically, decided one venue wasn’t enough—because why stick to a singular domain when you can sprawl across Lombardy and Veneto in spectacular fashion?
From February 6 through 22, the world’s attention turns to northern Italy, and the savvy traveler’s opportunity extends well beyond the competition schedule. Milan, hosting the Opening Ceremony at San Siro, has quietly transformed into a luxury hotel destination capable of rivaling Paris and London—with a dining scene that finally matches its fashion credentials, after decades of playing catch-up. A two-hour drive northeast (or 90 minutes, if your driver shares the local disregard for speed limits) delivers you to Cortina d’Ampezzo, where the “Queen of the Dolomites” returns to Olympic glory for the first time since hosting the 1956 Games, which introduced the world to live international television broadcasting.
Continue northwest through the Stelvio Pass—one of the Alps’ most legendary driving roads, with 48 hairpin turns—and you’ll reach Bormio, which offers something no other Olympic venue can claim: 2,000 years of thermal bathing tradition, alongside the world’s most technically demanding downhill course. Another hour through mountain tunnels brings Livigno, the duty-free anomaly where Napoleonic-era tax exemptions mean 22 percent savings on everything from Gucci to Barolo. And Verona, a 90-minute train from Milan, closes the Games inside a Roman amphitheater that predates Christianity, surrounded by three-Michelin-star dining and wine country producing Italy’s most collectible reds.
This is a guide to experiencing these five destinations as an insider: where to stay, what to eat, which bars matter, and how to navigate the intersection of athletic competition and Italian hospitality that makes Milano Cortina 2026 unlike any Winter Games before it.
