Italy's National Olympics Committee CONI is making an official bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, the Lombardy region president Attilio Fontana said on Monday.
"CONI has formalised its bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2026 in Milan and Cortina," Fontana said.
In a statement confirming Milan and Cortina as the candidate host cities for the 2026 Games, National Olympics Committee (CONI) president Giovanni Malago said Italy's bid would be an "innovative project".
"It will be in line with the Agenda 2020 guidelines and new rules and will include the Lombardy and Veneto regions, not just Milan and Cortina," Malago's wrote in a letter to IOC chair Thomas Back announcing CONI's bid.
Malago was referring to IOC's new Agenda 2020 reforms aimed at making the Games more sustainable, attractive and cost-effective for hosts.
"CONI's bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics has the full support of our government," Malago's letter stated.
The International Olympic Committee is due in September next year to announce its choice of host city for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Swedish capital Stockholm, the Canadian city of Calgary and Erzurum in Turkey are the other candidates for the 2026 games.
The Italian bid originally also included Turin, but it pulled out after refusing to cooperate with the other two candidate cities.
Turin already hosted the 2006 Winter Games, while the mountain resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted them in 1956.
