Milano Cortina Games prepare to serve up co-hosted opening ceremony

MILAN/CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 6 - The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will kick off on Friday evening with a ceremony combining elements from the co-hosts, seeking to reflect both city and mountain life and preaching a wider message of harmony.

With U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio due to join royals and heads of state for the main ceremony in Milan's San Siro soccer stadium, Italian authorities imposed tight security around the area in the west of the city.

U.S. pop diva Mariah Carey and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform in the San Siro for the ceremony which begins at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT).

OLYMPIC RINGS

Milan enjoyed a sunny afternoon and the mood outside the stadium was festive as crowds built up.

"This my fifth opening ceremony, so I'm hoping to see some good entertainment, see some good Italian culture and history. And it's not raining like it did in Paris," said David Arwood, 59, from Washington, D.C.

He did not expect current political controversies to spoil the party.

"The Olympics always reflect what's going on in the world," said Arwood, who was wearing novelty glasses featuring the five Olympic rings.

"But I think once the Games start, people tend to forget most of that stuff. It's controversial beforehand, but once the ceremony starts, once the athletes come in I think everybody has a good camaraderie," he added.

PROTESTS IN MILAN

A series of protests took place on Friday, with more planned over the weekend, in the Italian financial capital to oppose the presence of analysts from a department that falls under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

More local issues such as the closure of schools and streets in the city have also irked some Milanese.

The opening will be unique as co-host Cortina d'Ampezzo will join the celebrations from more than 400 km (250 miles) away in the mountains, in a spectacle expected to draw a huge global audience on television and online.

Athletes will also parade in the mountain venues of Livigno and Predazzo, in a Games spread over 22,000 square kilometres.

For the first time, two Olympic cauldrons, one of the symbols of the Games, will be lit simultaneously and burn throughout - one at Milan's Arco della Pace (Peace Arch) and the other in Cortina's Piazza Dibona.

THEME OF HARMONY

The ceremony will be entitled "Armonia" (harmony) and will celebrate the diversity of Italian life from fashionable Milan to the smaller mountain towns in the Alps that host the outdoor events at the Games, which run until February 22.

Tickets for the main event at the historic soccer stadium, home to Serie A clubs AC Milan and Inter, cost from 260 euros ($307) to a fitting if punchy price of 2,026 euros ($2,394).

Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, two of Italy's most successful Alpine skiers, have been tipped to have the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldrons, but the names of those involved and the format have not been disclosed. REUTERS