The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are Italy’s fourth as Olympic host and come 70 years after the region first welcomed the world’s best winter athletes.

It is Italy’s third Winter Olympics, second only to the United States (four), reinforcing the nation’s long-standing influence within the Olympic movement.

So, what’s changed since 1956?

The 1956 winter games were originally scheduled for 1944 but were postponed due to the second world war, eventually taking place in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

It was groundbreaking in several ways.

The games ran for 11 days, far shorter than this year’s 17-day program.

Italian skier Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo became the first woman to recite the Olympic Oath at an opening ceremony.

For the first time, the Winter Olympics were broadcast live on television, albeit in black and white, to nine European nations.

In 1956, winter and summer games were held in the same year, (Melbourne hosted the Summer Olympics that year).

This changed in 1994, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) moved them to alternating even-numbered years, significantly boosting the profile, commercial appeal and growth of the Winter Olympics.

Cortina 1956 featured a highly centralised model, with eight venues clustered within the Dolomites mountain range.

In contrast, Milan Cortina in........

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