Adnkronos Milan, 7 February - (Adnkronos) – The countdown to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games has officially begun and exactly twelve months after the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, Samsung Electronics Italia, in collaboration with Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, has inaugurated the Milano Cortina 2026 Sport Village powered by Samsung & Enel, a place where – the technology giant underlines – "sport, technology and innovation meet to give the public a unique immersive experience". The village, set up in the heart of Piazza Duomo in Milan and open to the public from 7 February to 6 March, will offer visitors the opportunity to learn about the history of the Olympic Games, discover the secrets of the athletes and details of the host cities. A journey that will also allow every enthusiast to step into the shoes of professional athletes.
Samsung will be present inside the village with the Galaxy Experience Space, an installation designed by Samsung where it will be possible to try out Galaxy S25, the new top-of-the-range smartphone presented at Galaxy Unpacked held last January in San Jose, California. Inside the pop up, visitors will be involved in a series of extraordinary experiences, from an exhibition path that traces Samsung's Olympic legacy to practical demonstrations of the latest innovations of Galaxy S25 equipped with Galaxy AI.
"Samsung has been proud to be a partner of the Olympic Games for nearly three decades, bringing innovation to enhance the experience of athletes and fans through our cutting-edge technologies," said Louis Kim, President of Samsung Electronics Italia. "With the Milano Cortina 2026 Sport Village, we are celebrating the first countdown to the next Olympic Winter Games and offering everyone the opportunity to experience the Olympic emotion in an immersive way, creating new experiences and meaningful connections."
"Our partners and their presence are essential for spreading the message that reinforces the arrival of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games. Piazza del Duomo, exactly one year after the Opening Ceremony, once again lights up to become the place where all those who love the Games can breathe and experience the excitement of winter sports, the protagonists of 2026. All the engagement activities allow us to bring the people, the beating heart of Milano Cortina 2026, closer to an event of international dimension that belongs to the entire world and to all the communities that live there. Enel and Samsung once again reiterate their commitment and passion for sport and for the Games", commented Andrea Varnier, CEO of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026
The Milano Cortina 2026 Sport Village powered by Samsung & Enel was inaugurated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Louis Kim, President of Samsung Electronics Italia, Andrea Varnier, CEO of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation, Martina Riva, Councilor for Sport, Tourism and Youth Policies of the Municipality of Milan, and Nicola Lanzetta, Director of Italy at Enel. The event, which marked the countdown of minus 365 days to the start of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, featured a 2D artistic projection on the façade of the Palazzo dei Portici Meridionali, which recounted the history and values of the Winter Olympic Games through images and content with a high emotional impact.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Sport Village is divided into two main sections: a sports area, dedicated to the discovery and practice of Olympic disciplines on synthetic ice surfaces, and a Samsung experiential space, designed to bring the public closer to the latest technological innovations through interactive experiences. The sports area will allow citizens to try their hand at two Olympic disciplines of the next Winter Olympic Games: curling and ice hockey. Visitors will be able to learn the basic rules of curling and try the game with the support of qualified instructors directly on a curling rink set up for the occasion. The rink will be open from Monday to Friday from 14:00 p.m. to 18:00 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 20:00 p.m., with sessions lasting thirty minutes and a maximum capacity of sixteen participants at a time. An ice hockey rink has been built next to the curling rink, where visitors can learn the fundamentals of skating and the game of hockey. Again, sessions will be led by expert instructors, with the same opening hours and a maximum capacity of twenty participants per session.
The star of the Milano Cortina 2026 Sport Village will be the Galaxy Experience Space, an interactive area dedicated to technological innovations with experiences that illustrate Samsung's contribution to the evolution of the Olympic Games. In this space, it will be possible to discover the new Galaxy S25, designed to offer an unprecedented experience in terms of connectivity and sharing, allowing fans to be ever closer to the Games, wherever they are. Furthermore, the activities proposed will include practical demonstrations on how the Galaxy S25 equipped with Galaxy AI can simplify the management of daily life and help organize personal activities, as well as innovative tools for editing images and creating multimedia content. Immersive experiences dedicated to the discovery of the Olympic locations and sports disciplines present in the village will also be available, with a particular focus on the connection between sport and technology. The interactive area will host an iconic zone dedicated to the official mascots, to immortalize your own Olympic moment.
In addition to the interactive experience, Samsung is offering visitors a series of thematic workshops, focusing on some of the key trends driving today’s technology interests and how the Galaxy S25 powered by Galaxy AI can enhance everyday life.
•Saturday 8 February at 12pm – workshop with Nicola Torrisi (@Befric), filmmaker and content creator, to discover how Galaxy S25 transforms photography with advanced editing, intelligent composition and new tools for creative expression.
•Saturday 15 February at 12pm – workshop with Silvia Fascians (@silvia.fascians), fitness and wellness content creator, to discover how Galaxy S25 supports wellbeing, from personalized health monitoring to mindfulness tools, improving daily self-care.
•Saturday 22 February at 12pm – workshop with Amer Nour (@instamerigo), technology expert and content creator, to discover how Galaxy S25 is revolutionizing the world of technology, from automation to innovation, and how it can improve daily tasks.
•Saturday, March 1 at 12:25 PM – Workshop with streamer and gamer Xiuder (@xiuder) to discover how the Galaxy SXNUMX improves gaming, from smarter NPCs to immersive experiences, and its impact on game development.
As mentioned, this initiative fits perfectly into Samsung's long tradition of supporting the Olympic Games, which began in 1988 as a local sponsor of the Seoul Olympic Games and continued as a Worldwide Partner since the Nagano 1998 Olympic Games, with a constant commitment to technological innovation at the service of sport and its universal values.
Since then, the company has helped revolutionize the way the Olympic Games are experienced, integrating innovative technologies to bring athletes and fans closer together. Samsung has pioneered digital solutions, such as the first “Call Home” program in 1998, which allowed athletes to communicate with their loved ones, the Wireless Olympic Works (WOW) app at Athens 2004, which managed real-time information about the Games, and the provision of more than 120.000 mobile devices to athletes and staff since 1998.
Over the years, Samsung has also created experiential spaces in host cities, including the Galaxy House in the Metaverse for Tokyo 2020 and the Olympic™ rendez-vous @ Samsung | Square Marigny installation for Paris 2024, designed by architect Jean Nouvel. Milano Cortina 2026 represents a new chapter in this story: one year before the lighting of the Olympic flame, Samsung reaffirms its commitment to help make the Games more accessible, engaging and connected than ever before, thanks to the power of innovation and sharing.
The Galaxy Experience Space will be open to visitors from February 7 to March 6, Monday to Thursday from 11:20 a.m. to 10:20 p.m. and Friday to Sunday from XNUMX:XNUMX a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. For more information, please visit https://www.samsung.com/it/smartphones/galaxy-experience-space/