ROME: The Olympic flame started its journey through Italy from a sunlit Rome on Saturday, launching a two-month relay designed to stir excitement across the country ahead of the 2026 Winter Games.

After being lit last month in ancient Olympia, the Greek home of the ancient Games, and handed over to Italian Games organisers earlier this week, the torch set off from Rome’s historic Stadio dei Marmi on Saturday.

Inaugurated in 1932 as part of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s monumental sports city project, the stadium is encircled by 60 Carrara marble statues of athletes.

Italy’s Olympic medal-winning swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri was the first torchbearer to carry the Olympic flame as it began its 12,000-km (7,450-mile) Italian journey.

Accompanying the torch out of the Stadio dei Marmi was basketball player Achille Polonara, who is battling leukaemia.

“It was a great emotion, just as it is a great emotion to be standing now, because until a week ago I was in a wheelchair,” Polonara told Italian state television RAI.

“My battle has been complicated and I hope I’m finally at the end of it. Being an athlete helped me a lot, and now I just hope a little luck will be on my side,” he added.

The torch will travel through all 110 Italian provinces and more than 300 municipalities, stopping in 60 cities for end-of-day celebrations before reaching Milan in time for the opening ceremony on Feb 6.

The Games will be co-hosted by Milan and the Dolomite resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo and run until Feb 22.

Unveiled in April, the Milano Cortina torch features an aerodynamic silhouette inspired by the curves of the Dolomites and the dynamic lines of ski tracks.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2025