The Olympic flame for the 2026 Winter Games arrived in Rome, Italy on Thursday afternoon, marking the start of a series of torch relay events.

Protected in a lantern, the flame landed at Rome's Fiumicino Airport around 5 p.m., and was carried off the airplane by Italian Olympic tennis champion Jasmine Paolini and Giovanni Malago, president of the Milan-Cortina 2026 organizing committee.

Italy's tennis player and Olympic champion Jasmine Paolini (L) and Giovanni Malago, president of the Milan-Cortina organizing committee, walk down the gangway with a lantern holding the flame of 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games at Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, Dec. 4, 2025. The Olympic flame for the 2026 Winter Games arrived in Rome, Italy on Thursday afternoon, marking the start of a series of torch relay events. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

At around 7 p.m., Italian President Sergio Mattarella received the flame at the Quirinale Palace, marking the beginning of the ceremonies leading to the official start of the flame journey on December 6.

Malago said that the arrival of the Olympic flame in Italy and its handover to President Mattarella are moments of great emotion on the road toward Milan-Cortina 2026. He added that in the coming days, the flame would become a symbol of "enthusiasm, harmony, and collective participation, reminding us of sport's unique power to unite, inspire, and build the future."

The flame will stay at the palace until an official lighting ceremony on Friday morning, when the cauldron will be lit in the presence of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry.

The start of the torch relay is scheduled to take place on Saturday morning at Rome's Stadio dei Marmi. Afterward, the relay will traverse 12,000 kilometers over 60 days across Italy, pass through more than 300 municipalities and feature celebrations in 60 cities, reach all 110 Italian provinces, and light up UNESCO sites along the route.

More than 10,000 torchbearers from all walks of life will take part in the relay, including figures from sectors of sports, culture, film and civil society.

The flame will see Christmas in Naples, New Year in Bari, and return to Cortina d'Ampezzo on January 26, 2026, the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Winter Games opening ceremony. The relay will conclude on February 6 at Milan's San Siro Stadium.