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≡ TORCHES REVEALED ≡
A dramatic, minimalist design was unveiled for the Olympic and Paralympic torches for the Milan Cortina 2026 Games on Monday, concurrently introduced at the Triennale di Milano and at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan:
“The Milano Cortina 2026 torches have been named ‘Essential,’ a tribute to their minimalist design and were developed by Eni, Premium Partner of Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, in collaboration with Versalis, Official Supporter of the Games.
“The two versions of the torch – one for the Olympic Winter Games and the other for the Paralympic Winter Games – both feature a reflective, iridescent finish but differ in colour. The Olympic torch in blue-green hues, the Paralympic torch in bronze tones.
“Eni and Versalis entrusted the design development to Studio Carlo Ratti Associati, while Cavagna Group is responsible for the engineering and production of the Torch and its components.”
The long, thin design weighs only 1,060 g (2.34 pounds), excluding the fuel can and includes a unique, vertical window that shows the internal components that make the torch operate. Each unit was made primarily from recycled aluminum and brass and is designed to be re-used up to 10 times, reducing the number to be manufactured. And:
“The burner – the technological core of the torch – will run on bio-LPG, produced at the Enilive biorefinery in Gela, Sicily. Bio-LPG is made exclusively from renewable raw materials, mainly waste sources such as used cooking oil, animal fats and residues from the agricultural industry.”
No information on the dimensions of the torch were provided and while sleek and long, it is well short of the biggest torch in Olympic history, the giant, five-foot-long aluminum and birchwood design for the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer.
The Olympic Torch Relay will include 10,001 torchbearers on a 63-day, 12,000 km (7,456 miles) route that will touch all 110 provinces of the Italian peninsula. The flame will be lit at Olympia in Greece on 26 November 2025, arrive in Rome on 4 December, finally arriving in Cortina d’Ampezzo on 26 January 2026 and at the opening ceremony at the San Siro Olympic Stadium on 6 February 2026.
The Paralympic Torch Relay will begin at Stoke Mandeville in England on 24 February 2026, two days after the close of the Olympic Winter Games and will run on an 11-day route from 24 February to 6 March. Some 501 torchbearers will participate, with five “Flame Festivals” in Milan, Turin, Bolzano, Trento and Trieste, then a ceremony to unite the flames in Cortina d’Ampezzo on 3 March. The relay will continue through Venice and Padua, finishing at the Verona Olympic Arena on 6 March for the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
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