The end of a long wait? Without a doubt. According to Italian media, the name of the general director of the organizing committee for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games should be known today. Or, at the latest, by the end of the week.
Surprise, the future number 2 of the Italian project has never appeared in the long list of names cited or mentioned in recent weeks. The chosen one would be Andrea Varnier (photo above), 58 years old, current general director of the company Costa Edutainment Spa, a subsidiary of the Costa group in charge of the management of the main aquariums and amusement parks in Italy.
In the recent past, the Verona native notably headed Filmmaster Productions, a Rome-based video production company known for working on Olympic ceremonies and torch relays. In 2020, he also worked for Richard Attias & Associates.
His name would finally have come out of the hat of the new Minister of Youth and Sports, Andrea Abodi. He would have even already revealed it to the members of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Foundation. But the final decision rests with the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who is supposed to formally proceed with his appointment. She is expected this Wednesday, November 9.
Andrea Varnier will take her place in the office left vacant since last August by Vincenzo Novari, the former director general, pushed out when the Milan-Cortina 2026 file was taken over by the political authorities.
Over the past few weeks, names have been coming out in the media for the position of general manager. Michele Uva, the director of football and CSR at UEFA, was quoted. Paolo Scaroni, the president of AC Milan, was also mentioned.
More recently, two other alleged favorites have fueled the rumor: Letizia Moratti, the former mayor of Milan, and Alessandro Araimo, the director for Southern Europe of the American group Discovery.
According to Andrea Abodi, Andrea Varnier's profile would have stood out thanks to his Olympic experience - he worked at the Turin Winter Games in 2006 as director of image and events, before becoming a consultant for the IOC on the planning of the Games and ceremonies – and a certain political neutrality. The Italian minister explained it at the start of the week: “ I tried to identify a profile that is not the best in absolute terms, but the best for this position in the context of the moment, because the Olympic event requires in-depth knowledge"
Other news from Italy, also likely to give a boost to preparations for the Winter Games in 2026: the authorities of the Trentino region have given the green light to the construction of a roof over above the speed skating ring in Baselga di Piné, a town of 5.000 people located about ten kilometers from Trento.
The question of the speed ring was still not definitively resolved by the organizing committee. It was even considered relocating the events to the indoor ice rink in Turin.
With this construction, the cost of which is announced at 50 million euros, the organizers are removing a thorn in their side. They can now meet the International Skating Federation (ISU) requirements for covered equipment. Above all, they stay within their budget.
The cost of the work will not be charged to Milan-Cortina 2026, with the city of Baselga di Piné taking full responsibility as part of a plan to modernize the ice ring, used for the world championships in 1995.
The design of the roof will be led by an Italian architect, Alessandro Zoppini, already at the helm of the speed skating venue for the Turin 2006, Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games.
