Milano Cortina, closing ceremony: Pannofino, Lauro and Compagnoni among the film protagonists

Rome, Feb. 22 (LaPresse) – The closing ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, held at the Arena di Verona, opens with a film in which a stage director (Francesco Pannofino) calls the “three minutes” at the start of the show and knocks on the dressing rooms. We discover Alfredo and Violetta, the characters from La traviata, before entering the inner depths of the Arena, where the memory of all performances staged over a century of activity is preserved. Violetta, the protagonist of La traviata, and the tenor playing Alfredo appear. Among the presences are Deborah Compagnoni, wearing skis and an evening dress, and Achille Lauro in a tailcoat, as well as chef Davide Oldani, rock musician Manuel Agnelli and Damiano Tommasi. This is the moment when the magical world of opera and its iconic characters meet: Rigoletto (the unexpected driving force of this ceremony), Figaro, Aida and Madama Butterfly. It is a spectacular, rich, lavish and entertaining performance involving Piazza Bra and also reaching the Teatro Filarmonico, which hosts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Arena Foundation, in a continuous dialogue between live action and cinematic storytelling.