JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Juana Summers.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
And I'm Scott Detrow. To Italy now. That's where Milan and Cortina will host the Winter Olympics in just 100 days. The mountain-based sports competitions will be based in the village of Cortina d'Ampezzo. It is a ski town in winter and a trekking outfitter spot in the warmer months. Reporter Kyle McKinnon traveled there and brings us this look at the scenery and the preparations for the next Olympics.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS AND HEAVY BREATHING)
KYLE MCKINNON: Hiking the Dolomites, the mountain range in the Italian Alps that the U.N.'s World Heritage Convention labels as exceptional natural beauty. Ask anybody up here - those World Heritage people aren't lying.
ENRICO MAIONI: Well, for me, the Dolomites are really unique. They're very, very beautiful.
MCKINNON: Mountain guide Enrico Maioni is biased, of course, but he's hiked and climbed around the world, and he says nothing compares to these jagged peaks.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: There's seven of you?
(LAUGHTER)
MCKINNON: But they're not exactly a secret. Word has spread, and that means bucket loads of visitors, many seeking alpine solitude - winter, summer, spring and fall.
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MCKINNON: The village of Cortina d'Ampezzo sits at the center of it all, with mountain peaks of the limestone-like rock known as dolomite all around. Many of those on vacation in these parts start their holidays in Cortina, whose 5,500 residents, including Maioni, know they live somewhere special. The peacefulness of Cortina, though, has disappeared, at least for the moment, as the village prepares for its role as a centerpiece of world sports, co-hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics with Milan. To many, Cortina's popularity, its coming of age, dates to its solo hosting of the 1956 Olympics.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Italian).
MCKINNON: Sure, some facilities like the bobsled run, carved into a nearby mountain, were barely ever used again, but Cortina became a proud ski town.
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MCKINNON: Seventy years later, this multisport, multiseason destination has construction cranes everywhere. Tens of millions are being poured into, for example, a new gondola lift, bigger roads and rebuilding, then expanding that bobsled run. Enrico Maioni says enough, and along with other locals, he's complained to the mayor and city council.
MAIONI: The simple things that can make the town much nicer and clean, that is more important than the Olympics, in my opinion.
GIANLUCA LORENZI: (Speaking Italian).
MCKINNON: Cortina's mayor is hosting a ceremony in city hall for an Olympics arts installation, one of Giancarlo Lorenzi's (ph) many pre-Olympics duties. Another is defending the money and the energy his town is expending on Olympics preparation. Lorenzi is cognizant of the impact the 1956 Olympics had on Cortina, and he has a message for the locals voicing opposition to the preparation of the 2026 Games.
LORENZI: They don't understand they have to continue the upgrade for the future. You know, from the '56 until the 2026, Cortina, they don't do a lot. But we get the opportunity with these Olympic Games to renew.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONSTRUCTION)
ROBERTA DE MARTIN: If you come here now, you see a lot of things that are in construction, so it seems like a mess.
MCKINNON: Hotel manager Roberta De Martin sits somewhere between the mayor and local opposition. Her hotel, the Beppe Sello, has been in the family for almost 70 years. Right outside her window, there are construction workers. And for the upcoming Olympics, she's already sold out all of the Beppe Sello's rooms.
DE MARTIN: I think that we will see later, we will see the advantages for this, like, in five year, 10 year.
MCKINNON: Mountain guide Enrico Maioni is not so sure. He'll be tracking what happens to Cortina from up close in his hometown...
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER FLOWING)
MCKINNON: ...And also from a distance, about a mile up in the Dolomites. For NPR News, I'm Kyle McKinnon in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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