Seventy years after Cortina 1956, the Olympic flame returns to the Dolomites with Milan Cortina 2026. Andrea Goldstein‘s essay, Cortina 1956. An Olympics between the Cold War and the Dolce Vita, recalls that event that marked post-war Italy, spanning sport, international politics, and social life.
About the book: Tenley Albright – who had started skating as a child to recover from polio and won the gold medal despite a serious injury just days before the competition – and Prince Bertil of Sweden – who made sure slope salters and sled drivers were invited to his gala reception. Toni Sailer – who entered history by winning all the Alpine ski races by monstrous margins – and Sophia Loren – who arrived with the few things necessary for a couple of days crammed into seven fiery red trunks. Eugenio Monti – who on his home bobsleigh track collected the first laurels of a career that ended 12 years later, at the age of 40, with two Olympic gold medals – and Lester Rodney – who in the middle of the Cold War covered the Soviet triumphs for the daily paper of the American Communist Party. These are but some of the protagonists of the first Olympics organized in Italy, in the midst of an economic boom, just 11 years after the end of the Second World War. But they were also the first to be broadcast live on television, the first in which a woman read the athletes’ oath, the first in which the two Germanys competed under the same flag, the first with a strong business involvement. The story of Cortina 1956 ranges from sports to economics, from politics to social life, in an ideal journey that leads from those unforgettable Games to Milan Cortina 2026.