Olympic Games in South Tyrol and historic Tyrol, Cortina – Milan 2026

From 6 to 22 February 2026, the Olympic Winter Games will take place in many parts of historic Tyrol. Four venues are located in historic Tyrol:

• Cortina d'Ampezzo (curling, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton, alpine skiing)

• Antholz – South Tyrol (biathlon)

• Predazzo – Welschtirol (Nordic combined, ski jumping)

• Tesaro – Welschtirol (Nordic combined, cross-country skiing)

Only Milan, Livigno and Bormio are located outside the historical borders of Tyrol.

However, public, international and local reporting reveals little to nothing about the cultural, political or historical characteristics of the region. Throughout the entire area of historic Tyrol, German, Latin and, to a limited extent, Italian are still spoken. All official communications are conducted exclusively in Italian; even officially recognised German names such as Antholz (instead of Anterselva) did not appear on a single official portal until a few days ago.

The Schützenbund (the head organisation of ICEC South Tyrol) has attempted to publicise these grievances and has actually succeeded in getting the official German name ‘Antholz’ to appear alongside the Italian name ‘Anterselva’ (invented by the fascists) in official channels just a few days ago. For weeks, various organisations are calling for Ladin flags to be flown throughout the Ladin-speaking region from 6 to 22 February to make it clear to international visitors that this part of the country is not exclusively Italian.

In South Tyrol, people are also trying to use Tyrolean flags to take a stand against the oppressive Italianisation of the area under the guise of sport. The South Tyrolean Rifle Association points out that the original German and Ladin names of the Alpine region are well documented historically, especially in English-speaking countries. The pioneers of Alpine tourism in the 19th century – especially British mountaineers and travel writers – naturally used the place and mountain names that were common at the time. The artificial names introduced later by Ettore Tolomei played no role at that time. The South Tyrolean Schützenbund calls on those responsible at olympics.com to use historically established place names correctly and equally, to show linguistic sensitivity towards minorities and, in particular, to refrain from ideologically biased reporting in German and English. The Olympic Games must not become a stage for national historical falsification.

Andreas Kostner - ICEC Sud Tirol