Opening Ceremony Kicks Off Milan-Cortina Winter Games

The Winter Games of Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo formally kicked off with opening ceremonies at San Siro stadium in Milan, where Mariah Carey opened with “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu” (“Volare”) and also sang her 2025 track “Nothing is Impossible,” dressed in a white-and-silver gown by Fausto Puglisi.

Athletes entered behind their national flags in the Parade of Nations; this year there are four such parades across the Games’ host sites. Greece led the procession and Italy closed it, with the hosts of the coming Olympics placed just before Italy — meaning the U.S.

team marches just after Venezuela, the country whose leader the Trump administration seized in a recent military operation. Scattered protests unfolded in Milan before the ceremonies, targeting the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel and the cost of the Games amid an affordable-housing crisis.

Italy, Milan