After the confirmation of Gabry Ponte during the weekend, the organising committee of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics has revealed that another former Eurovision representative for San Marino will participate in the Closing Ceremony later this week: Achille Lauro.
Achille Lauro at the closing ceremony
The announcement came from the Milano-Cortina 2026 social media accounts.
Achille Lauro is an Italian singer, rapper, composer and producer, known to Eurovision fans not only for his participation in Eurovision 2022 (held in Turin) for San Marino, but also for his multiple participations in the Sanremo festival, in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2025. He will also co-host one of the evenings of the upcoming 2026 Festival, held later in February to make sure it does not clash with the Olympics.
Lauro was also a torchbearer during the Torch Relay a few weeks ago.
A defining moment of the final night of the Games
According to the social media posts, Achille will “give voice to one of the defining moments of the final night of the Games“, emphasizing his capacity to “turn every performance into a story, every stage into an iconic moment”. It is not yet clear which moment it will be.
Olympic closing ceremonies are usually less formal and grandiose than their opening counterpart, and turn into a party for the athletes, who enter the stadium or arena with their national delegation but are then meant to mingle without national distinctions (a tradition launched during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics). The last time Italy hosted such an event, for the 2006 Winter Olympics, Elisa and Ricky Martin closed the evening.
The general theme of the ceremony will be “Beauty in action”. As per tradition, it will also see the extinction of the Olympic Cauldrons, and the handover ceremony with France for the 2030 Winter Olympics, due to be held in the French Alps. Although the latter will likely involve French artists only, the former event could be a “defining moment” with music involved. Lauro could also sing the Italian national anthem (which must be performed at some point according to protocol), or be present for a specific artistic segment.
The Verona arena, in which it will be held, also has a small Eurovision history, being used a few years ago for the special videoclip of Italy’s 2020 entry, “Fai Rumore”, which was used for the Eurovision tribute broadcast “Europe: Shine a Light”.
Who else do you think will feature in the Closing Ceremony? Did you watch the Opening Ceremony? Tell us more in the comments below!
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