A standout moment came with Mariah Carey’s unexpected yet reverent homage to Italian song. Wearing a striking Fausto Puglisi creation, Carey delivered a rendition of Domenico Modugno’s Nel blu, dipinto di blu, one of Italy’s most celebrated musical exports. First performed by Modugno at the 1958 Sanremo Festival, the song achieved unprecedented international success, winning two Grammy Awards and topping the US Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks.
Often linked to the dreamlike imagery of Marc Chagall, Nel blu, dipinto di blu tells the story of a man floating through blue skies, its exuberant refrain transcending language and geography. Modugno himself came to symbolise a pivotal era in Italian music, blending folk tradition with modern sensibilities during a time of rapid cultural change.
Carey followed the Italian classic with Nothing Is Impossible, one of the defining tracks from her own catalogue. The pairing underscored the ceremony’s broader theme: a dialogue between Italy’s cultural past and the global pop present, embodied by one of the best-selling female artists in music history.
The ceremony’s emotional centre arrived later in the programme with Andrea Bocelli’s performance of Nessun Dorma from Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot. As the Olympic Flame made its passage across the San Siro stage, Bocelli’s voice rose alongside the Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana, delivering one of the most recognisable arias in the operatic canon.
Composed in 1924, Nessun Dorma has become inseparable from Italy’s international musical identity. Its association with global sport dates back to the 1990 FIFA World Cup, when Luciano Pavarotti famously adopted it as the tournament’s anthem, later performing it again at the Turin 2006 Olympic Opening Ceremony. For Bocelli, Milano Cortina marked his second appearance at an Olympic Opening Ceremony, following his performance of Ama, Credi e Vai in Turin.
Widely regarded as the heir to Italy’s great vocal tradition, Bocelli has spent more than three decades bridging opera and popular music, making his presence a natural anchor for a ceremony rooted in national heritage.
The wider soundtrack of the evening reflected the same expansive vision. From Raffaella Carrà’s A Far L’Amore Comincia Tu and Adriano Celentano’s playful Prisencolinensinainciusol to an extended electronic sequence curated by MACE, the programme traced Italian creativity across genres and generations. The closing movements, led by composer Roberto Cacciapaglia, brought the ceremony to a reflective, forward-looking conclusion.
Full setlist of the Milano Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony
- A Far L’Amore Comincia Tu – Raffaella Carrà
- Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu – Mariah Carey
- Nothing Is Impossible – Mariah Carey
- Vamos a Cortina – Righeira
- Tearsmith (Remix) – Andrea Farri, Stefano Fontana
- Singularity (Remix) – Mace
- Estasi (Remix) – Mace
- Vampa – Mace
- Magma – Mace
- Acid Jozi – Mace
- Uyuni – Mace
- Bufo – Mace
- Hallucination (Remix) – Mace
- Swallow That Cube – Mace
- Children of the Night – Mace
- Legba – Mace
- Cosmic Soup – Mace
- Moto Perpetuo (Remix) – Mace
- Classic Cheesy Euphoria – Mace
- Ologramma (Remix) – Mace
- Feeling Machines – Mace
- Oscillating Electrical States – Mace
- Prisencolinensinainciusol – Adriano Celentano
- Espansione – Mace
- Puccini: Turandot, Act III – Nessun Dorma! (Live at Central Park, New York / 2011) – Andrea Bocelli
- Ode to Joy – received by Lavinia Cinca (European Union), performed by Erasmus Orchestra
- Fiamme – Roberto Cacciapaglia
- The Future – Roberto Cacciapaglia
- Final Celebration – Roberto Cacciapaglia
- Times – Roberto Cacciapaglia
Together, the performances formed a musical portrait of Italy—past, present and future—setting the tone for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games with a celebration that was as rooted in history as it was global in ambition.