On Friday, February 13, a delegation from the Presidential Office of the Grand Council of the Republic and Canton Ticino will be in Milan for an institutional visit, in the context of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Leading the mission, the President of the Ticino Parliament, Fabio Schnellmann.
The 2026 Games directly involve Lombardy and, due to geographical proximity and economic relations, also the Ticino territoryThe stated objective is to strengthen institutional dialogue channels and explore issues related to the impact of the Olympic event on the cross-border area.
A visit to the Swiss House
The day in Milan will open with the meeting with the Consul General of Switzerland in Milan, Stefano LazzarottoThe delegation will be accompanied to the Swiss House, a space for representing and promoting the Swiss presence in Italy, which has hosted cultural, economic, and diplomatic initiatives over the years.
This moment has not only symbolic but also operational significance: on the one hand, it reaffirms the role of Swiss diplomacy in managing bilateral relations, and on the other, it offers an institutional framework for discussing the opportunities and challenges associated with the Winter Games.
Comparison with the Lombardy Region
The political highlight of the visit will be the official meeting with the President of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana. The discussion will focus primarily on Olympics Milan-Cortina 2026, with particular attention to territorial implications.
Among the topics covered: the infrastructural impact, the overall costs of the event, the critical issues that emerged during the organizational phase, and the expected economic effects. For the Canton of Ticino, which shares with Lombardy a dense network of daily exchanges – from cross-border work to trade flows – The Olympics represent a potential multiplier of opportunities but also a source of questions.
The discussion should also touch on the possible synergies in the tourism and logistics sectors, considering the geographical proximity and the complementarity of the Alpine offeringA discussion on how Ticino could capture part of the induced business linked to visitor and investment flows is not excluded.
The AlpTransit dossier and common perspectives
Alongside the Olympic chapter, the meeting will offer space for an update on the dossier AlpTransit: The issue of railway infrastructure remains central to relations between Switzerland and Italy, particularly with regard to north-south connections and accessibility of theInsubric area.
For Ticino, AlpTransit represents a long-term strategic investment. Coordination with Lombardy is considered crucial to fully exploiting the potential of the new rail network, both in terms of passenger mobility and freight traffic.
In this context, the institutional visit also serves as a moment to review the progress of projects and the prospects for future cooperation.
A symbolic closure on the ice
The day will end with participation in the meeting of ice hockey between the Swiss and Canadian national teams, scheduled for the Santa Giulia Ice Arena in Milan. The choice of sporting event is no coincidence: hockey is a central sport in Swiss tradition and one of the symbols of winter sports.
The presence of the Ticino Grand Council delegation at such a significant international event is part of the institutional and cultural relations that accompany major sporting events. The visit to Milan is therefore a moment of political and diplomatic dialogue in a context of growing attention to the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. For Ticino, a border region and a natural bridge between Switzerland and Italy, the Olympic dossier represents a game that is played not only on a sporting level, but also on a economic and infrastructural.
