With the 2026 Winter Olympics formally opening at this time, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission brings us a placing view of northern Italy, highlighting a number of key Olympic venues.
Zoom in to discover this picture at its full decision.
Also called the Milano Cortina Video games, this 12 months’s Olympics are geographically widespread, with occasions happening concurrently in several areas and venues throughout northern Italy, together with Milan, Bormio, Livigno, Anterselva, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Predazzo, Tesero and Verona.
The higher a part of this cloud-free picture is dominated by the mountains and valleys of the Alps, the place most venues are located. Click on on the circles to find them on the picture.
To the northeast lies Cortina d’Ampezzo, the city that lends its title to this 12 months’s Video games. Usually referred to as the Pearl of the Dolomites, Cortina sits on the coronary heart of those dramatic mountains – additionally a UNESCO world heritage website. A famend winter sports activities resort, Cortina additionally hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics.
This 12 months’s opening ceremony will likely be held on the San Siro Stadium in Milan, seen as a gray space nestling under the Alps within the decrease left nook of the picture. Milan is Italy’s second-most populous metropolis after Rome, with its wider metropolitan space extending throughout Lombardy and jap Piedmont.
Additional east, the deep blue waters of Lake Garda stand out within the centre of the picture. Overlaying 370 sq km, Garda is the biggest lake in Italy and the third largest within the Alpine area.
East of Lake Garda is the town of Verona, which is able to host the closing ceremony, bringing the 2 weeks of sporting occasions to an finish. Verona’s historic city structure, such because the famend Enviornment – its round Roman amphitheatre ̶ have earned it UNESCO World Heritage Website standing. On 6 March, the Enviornment may also host the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Winter Video games, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the primary Paralympic Winter Video games.
Shifting additional to the east, within the backside proper, is one other well-known Italian landmark: the turquoise colors of the crescent-shaped Venetian lagoon and the islands that make up the floating metropolis of Venice alongside the Adriatic coast.
