Enhanced Security for Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games
In the final weeks and months before the flame is lit, athletes fine-tune routines honed over years of sacrifice, families book flights and accommodation, and winter sports fans from across the world set their sights on northern Italy. For competitors, the focus must remain singular: delivering the performance of a lifetime on the sport’s biggest stage. For spectators, the promise lies in celebration, movement and shared emotion, not uncertainty or disruption. Ensuring that this collective energy can unfold smoothly is the product of extensive planning. Long before the first ski cuts into the snow or the first puck drops, security and safety teams have been working quietly behind the scenes, shaping an environment where attention stays fixed on sport rather than risk.
As the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics open on 6 February 2026, Italian authorities have unveiled what they describe as one of the most comprehensive security operations in the nation’s history. Central to this effort is the International Olympic Operations Room (SOIO), a 24-hour command centre based in Rome that links directly with local police headquarters in northern cities such as Milan, Bolzano, Trento, Venice and Verona, facilitating real-time coordination across the multi-city event footprint. The SOIO is also working closely with international law enforcement partners such as Interpol and Europol to share intelligence and respond to emerging threats.
A New Era of Olympic Security in Italy
Security perimeters have been established around key venues, with “red zones” where access is tightly controlled and monitored by hundreds of surveillance cameras. Officers deployed include dog units and specialised bomb-disposal teams carrying out sweeps ahead of events. Snipers have been strategically placed in elevated positions to oversee critical areas, a traditional but always sensitive element of high-visibility security operations.
Railway stations and border crossings will see stepped-up checks, applying controls that reflect heightened vigilance in the post-pandemic era of mass events, where mobility and crowd flows intersect with national security concerns.
The scale of the security deployment for Milano-Cortina stands out even among major sporting events. Italy’s Interior Ministry has confirmed that around 6,000 law-enforcement officers, including regular police, alpine units, canine anti-sabotage teams, bomb-disposal experts and specialised counter-terrorism operatives, will be stationed across Olympic sites from Milan’s urban venues to the alpine slopes of Cortina and beyond. Of these, roughly 3,000 are regular police officers, about 2,000 are Carabinieri military police and more than 800 are from the Guardia di Finanza tax police, bringing a mix of capabilities to crowd management, threat detection and enforcement. In addition, Italian military assets such as drones and radar surveillance platforms will supplement territory monitoring and aerial security awareness, while no-fly zones and restricted access perimeters aim to keep airspace and sensitive zones contained.
Officials have also expanded the security net to include enhanced digital defences, deploying a dedicated 24-hour cybersecurity control room tasked with monitoring networks and infrastructure against malicious intrusion. Financially, the government allocated tens of millions of euros to security alone, with about €30 million in 2025 and €114 million in 2026 specifically for security operations.
Safety infrastructure has been bolstered as well. In Milan, a dedicated Olympic emergency room and a 21-bed ward have been set up at Niguarda hospital to handle potential medical incidents involving athletes and support staff, forming part of a wider medical network that includes revamped general emergency facilities and medical stations at key competition sites in Bormio, Livigno and Sondalo. This network is designed not only to respond to sports-related injuries but also to support spectators and workforce alike should urgent care be needed.
This layered approach reflects not just concerns over traditional risks but also the complex geopolitical environment of 2026, with cyber threats and hybrid operations increasingly part of the security calculus for global events. Recent reports indicate that Italy has already averted cyberattacks targeting government and Olympics-related websites, underscoring the growing importance of digital resilience alongside physical security.
Lessons from Paris: France’s High-Alert Security Template
Just two years earlier, France faced its own unprecedented security challenge during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where authorities mobilised one of the largest peacetime security operations in the nation’s history. French Interior sources estimated that up to around 45,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed on high-alert days, supported by tens of thousands of additional troops and private security personnel.
The Paris operation was driven by traditional counter-terrorism concerns as well as the logistical demands of hosting events across widely dispersed venues and public spaces, including the Seine-side opening ceremony that attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators. Security perimeters, controlled access points and extensive video surveillance were complemented by the National Strategic Command Centre, established to coordinate efforts across jurisdictions and agencies.
French authorities also drew on a broader legacy of sustained anti-terrorism operations, such as Opération Sentinelle, which has maintained a military presence in sensitive areas since 2015. In Paris, this meant that in addition to daily policing levels of around 30,000 officers, reserve forces, armed troops and specialised units were on standby to respond to both physical and digital threats.
Balancing Security and Celebration, and Future Horizons
The Italian plan for 2026 carries its own distinctive challenges. The Winter Olympics are spread across multiple alpine regions as well as urban centres, and organisers anticipate around two million visitors over the course of the Games. The differing geographies, from Milan’s bustling metropolis to the mountain terrain of Cortina d’Ampezzo, require flexible yet synchronised protocols that can adapt to both dense urban crowds and remote venues.
Italy’s emphasis on integrated command and international cooperation reflects a broader trend in how host nations prepare for major events in the 21st century: combined physical security with networked information sharing and digital protection.
Looking ahead, attention is already turning to the next Olympic cycle. France is due to host the Winter Olympics in the Alps in 2030, and early discussions suggest that security planning for that event will build on both the Paris and Milan-Cortina experiences.
Authorities in France are expected to continue refining coordination mechanisms between national and local agencies, invest further in cyber-defence capabilities, and explore new technologies to manage threats that evolve faster than ever before. While specific measures for the 2030 Games remain under development, the broad commitment to layering physical, digital and community-based resilience is emerging as a central theme.
For Milipol Paris, the world’s premier security trade event that brings together practitioners, policymakers and technology innovators, these Olympic security operations offer a live case study in how nations confront multifaceted risks. As Italy’s forces embark on this high-stakes mission, and France charts its future hosting ambitions, the global security community will be watching closely, observing which strategies hold firm and which challenges redefine next-generation protocols.
Image credits:
Milano-Cortina 2026