Celebrities such as former tennis player Flavia Pennetta and MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia will be among the first torchbearers for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics (February 6-22) during the relay beginning December 6 in Rome, announced the organizing committee on Friday.
In addition to Pennetta, the 2015 US Open winner, and Bagnaia, a two-time MotoGP world champion, the initial torchbearers—all Italian—will include singer Achille Lauro, young autistic athlete Andrea Antonello and his father Franco, chef Lucia Tellone, and Dario Pivirotto, who previously carried the Olympic flame during the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo and 2006 Turin Games.
As per Olympic tradition, the flame will be ignited in Olympia on November 26. It will remain in Greece for a nine-day relay across the country before arriving in Rome on December 4.
The Italian leg of the torch relay will commence on December 6 in Rome. The Olympic flame, carried by 10,001 torchbearers, will traverse Italy from north to south and east to west over 63 days, covering 12,000 kilometers and passing through iconic sites such as Siena, Pompeii, and Lake Como. It will reach Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 26 before arriving in Milan on February 6 for the opening ceremony at San Siro Stadium.
