The Milan-Cortina Olympic Opening Ceremony will spread across regions, like the Games themselves

Not only will the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games be the most spread-out in history, so will the Feb. 6 opening ceremony, organizers said Thursday

Not only will the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games be the most spread-out in history, so will the Feb. 6 opening ceremony, organizers said Thursday.

The Parade of Nations will feature athletes led by the national flagbearers not only in Milan’s San Siro Stadium, which will be packed with 60,000 spectators, but also, for the first time in Olympic history, in three other locations: the mountain venues of Cortina, Predazzo and Livigno.

Olympic events are scheduled from Feb. 6-22 in venues spanning the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto, as well as the autonomous provinces of Alto Adige and Trentino, with many hours of driving between them. The diffusion of the Parade of Nations will allow athletes from all disciplines, no matter how far-flung, to participate, organizers told a news conference.

"The Opening Ceremony is the entrance way, an invitation," said Andrea Varnier, CEO of the Milan-Cortina organizing committee. While each nation has its favorite sporting events, "the only moment that is truly for everyone is the Opening Ceremony. It is the moment that defines that edition of the Games, in their spirit."

Biathlon athletes competing in Anterselva, on the Austrian border, will be able to participate in nearby Cortina, in the Dolomites of Veneto, while men’s alpine skiers competing in Lombardy’s Bormio near Switzerland can join the parade in Livigno, where snowboarding and freestyle skiing events will be held, just 45 minutes away.