Milano Cortina Winter Olympics to begin with unique twinned opening ceremony

MILAN/CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy - The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will officially open later on Friday with a ceremony combining elements from the co-hosts, seeking to reflect both city and mountain life.

Italian authorities have tightened security around Milan's San Siro soccer stadium, which will provide the stage for the main part of a ceremony at which US pop diva Mariah Carey and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform.

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

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who arrived in Milan on Thursday, will be in the San Siro for the ceremony which begins at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT).

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.

There are concerns spectators may boo the American team or politicians after news of the presence of analysts from a department that falls under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sparked anger in Italy.

The International Olympic Committee is hoping the opening ceremony will be a show of respect for athletes from around the world, however.

The ceremony will be entitled "Armonia" (harmony) and will celebrate the diversity of Italian life from Milan, an international capital of fashion and finance, 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 to a fitting if punchy price of 2,026 euros.

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

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

—Reuters