MILAN, Feb 1 (Reuters) – A child forced off a bus in the snow in northern Italy for not paying the full fare will play a role in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina on Friday, his mother said.
Riccardo Z, an 11-year-old boy from a town less than 20 km from Cortina d’Ampezzo, did not have enough money for a bus fare surcharge introduced by the local transport company for the Olympics and had to walk six kilometers home in freezing weather and snow, sparking outrage from parents and local authorities.
After the incident, the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation contacted the family and offered the boy a symbolic role in the opening ceremony.
“I have never seen him so happy and excited,” his mother Sole Vatalano told Italian state broadcaster RAI 1. “It was the most beautiful gift they could have given him.”
The boy’s story attracted national media attention in Italy amid concerns about price increases for the February 6-22 Games.
The Foundation did not disclose the nature of Riccardo’s role, who is himself part of a junior ski team.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games will be the first Olympic Games to be jointly organized at different locations. More than 1,300 artists, including around 1,200 volunteers from 27 countries, have been preparing for the opening ceremony for months in a rehearsal tent near the historic San Siro stadium in Milan.
However, San Siro will not be the only stage of the show on Friday evening.
Several ski resorts in northern Italy will share the global spotlight with Lombardy’s capital Milan: Cortina, Livigno in Valtellina and Predazzo in the province of Trento, marking the first ‘widespread ceremony’ in the history of the Games.
