Volkswacht Bodensee - 2026 Winter Olympics flame arrives in Milan

The torch has travelled 12,000 kilometres (7,456 miles) over 63 days, carried by thousands of torchbearers through more than 300 cities across Italy, before arriving in Milan on the eve of the Games' opening ceremony.

Thousands of people waiting in a rainy Piazza del Duomo cheered as torchbearer Nicoletta Manni, an Italian ballerina, carried it into the square, over an hour behind schedule.

Games organisers said the delay was caused by "the enthusiasm and the number of people present which slowed down" torch runners.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators held aloft flags nearby in the second protest at the Duomo of the day, following a demonstration earlier by Greenpeace, which wants the Olympics to cut ties with fossil fuel companies.

The flame will resume its journey on Friday through Milan -- passing the San Siro stadium, where the Games' opening ceremony will be held -- before lighting the cauldron under the city's Arch of Peace.

The Games will be spread across seven venues throughout northeastern Italy and a second Olympic cauldron will be lit in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomite mountains.

F.Wagner--VB