ROMA (ITALPRESS) – The Olympics in Milan-Cortina 2026 will not only be a sports festival: “They will first be development, innovation, vision of the future. With an estimated economic impact in 5.3 billion euros, the Games will leave infrastructure legacy, territorial growth. But they will once again be a powerful tool of soft power that will leave a lasting strengthening of the international position of Italy”. This is what the vicepremier and foreign minister Antonio Tajani writes, in an article for the Messenger and the Mattino. “For the first time in history, the Games become “diffused”: two symbolic cities, Milan and Cortina, and a whole system of territories Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige united by a sustainable and inclusive vision. And this is the first “political” signal.
According to Tajani, winter games generate effects that go beyond the sport dimension, affecting infrastructure, territorial development, productive chains and international positioning of our country. “The organizational system of the Games involves the involvement of about 18,000 volunteers and a dedicated diplomatic task force, young officials, institutions and local communities – he emphasized. A commitment that confirms Italy’s ability to successfully organize global events, as we have seen with the Jubilee just spent.”.
At the Farnesina “we accompanied the arrival of the Games with an integrated strategy, started two years ago with the Office for Sport Diplomacy” and developed through an international road show in Europe, North America and Asia, involving athletes, media and enterprises”. The objective was twofold: “to validate territories and communities involved and strengthen the image of Italy as an innovative, sustainable and welcoming country. The Games were protagonists of numerous initiatives, at Expo Osaka 2025, in the Business Forum abroad and on the Day of Italian Sport in the World. This is why Italy has chosen to invest decisively in sports diplomacy, making it a structural component of its international action.”.
But the Olympic Games represent values such as “the loyal and peaceful competition among young people from all over the world, have always been universal symbols of peace, respect and inclusion. In an international context marked by conflicts, sport remains a credible area of dialogue. The Olympics were born for peace. Italy asked for it by facilitating the adoption of the UN Resolution on the Olympic Truce, supported by the Holy Father and the President of the Republic: a concrete appeal for sport to silence weapons.”.
“Over 233,000 people were killed in armed violence only in the last year, causing more than 123 million displaced persons. Italy continues to be a protagonist on the diplomatic and humanitarian level, engaging in peace in Ukraine and Gaza, without forgetting the less visible conflicts, as in Sudan, where millions of people were forced to flee,” he concluded.
– Photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
