Olympic Ice Stadium
Refurbished on several occasions since the Games, the Olympic Ice Stadium is a centrepiece of the sporting scene in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The Olympic Ice Stadium, now known as the Stadio Olimpico del Ghiaccio, is a multi-purpose complex that provided the venue for the 2010 Curling World Championships and will host the curling competitions at the Olympic Winter Games Milan Cortina 2026. It also staged the Italian Short Track Speed Skating Championships in 2017.
The stadium has a capacity of 3,100 and is the home of several local ice hockey, figure skating, short track, speed skating, curling and broomball clubs, among them Sportivi Ghiaccio Cortina, which plays in the tri-nation Alps Hockey League. It is also used by the public for recreational purposes and occasionally hosts concerts.
Open all year round, the Olympic Ice Stadium had a roof added in 2003 and has been refurbished on several occasions to bring it into line with the latest venue and safety standards. It retains its original wooden stands, however.
Situated within walking distance of the town centre, the stadium was the one new venue of the VII Olympic Winter Games, as Cortina d’Ampezzo did not have a suitable facility for staging ice hockey and figure skating. Originally a U-shaped roofless construction, it was completed in 1954 and had a capacity of 12,000 for the Games. It hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, ice hockey matches – including the final – and the figure skating competitions, which were the last to be held in the open air at the Olympic Winter Games.