MILANO CORTINA 2026 | PARALYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY | ARENA DI VERONA 2026

On 6 March 2026, two weeks after the Olympic Games closed in the same amphitheatre, the Milano Cortina Paralympic Winter Games opened at the Arena di Verona. It was the first Paralympic ceremony held in a World Heritage Site, in the year that marked fifty years of the Winter Paralympics. The show was called Life in Motion. Blearred designed, programmed and ran its lighting, for the arena and for the broadcast.

Alfredo Accatino led the ceremony as artistic director for Filmmaster, with Adriano Martella as creative director and Marco Boarino as show director. The programme included tributes to the sculptor Jago and to Emilio Isgrò and his erasures.

Giò Forma designed the set, a series of rings around a central disc under a pale arch, with Cameo Otos L16 bars laid along the steps of the cavea. Around the stage the tiers often turned a full red. From the arch, fans of white beams opened over the floor, and in some scenes lasers crossed the whole arena. For the same ceremony Blearred also designed the lighting of the two Paralympic cauldrons, in Milan and in Cortina.

Eugene O'Connor worked as director of photography for the broadcast, and every cue was set for the cameras as well as for the stands.

Lighting design by Jordan Babev and Davide Pedrotti, with Ivan Russo as project manager and Elisa Fiumanò as assistant project manager. Matteo Masini led 3D and Depence, Olek Mar'Yanov and Francesco Rizzotto the CAD, Marzio Del Sole the 3D modelling. Roberto Andreotti and Matteo De Salvia programmed and operated the show.

Photos: Luca Parisse and Mariachiara Panone.

Two weeks later, the same steps turned red.