The Olympic torch relay for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games kicked off in Rome on Saturday. The flame arrived in Italy on Thursday after being lit in Olympia, Greece, in November. The relay's first runner was Gregorio Paltrinieri, a swimmer who won gold in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle race at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, the United States Ambassador to Greece, became an Olympic flame torchbearer for the Winter Olympic Games.

This week sees the Olympic flame pass from Greece to Italy en route to Milan for the Winter Games. Euronews spent a day behind the scenes with the dancers and actors who perform at the historic lighting ceremony as it's been practised since the start of the movement in Ancient Olympia.