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Italy may not be the first country that comes to mind when thinking about Olympic figure skating, which is exactly what makes its history worth a closer look.
As the world turns its attention to the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games, it’s impossible not to look back at the nation's earlier Olympics. From the crisp mountain air of Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956, where skaters performed outdoors against the backdrop of the Dolomites, to the modernity of Torino's Palavela arena in 2006, Italy has provided some of the sport's most memorable stages.
The 1956 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games not only showcased medal-winning performances - they helped shape the evolution of figure skating itself. As Italy prepares to host the Olympics once again, the moment feels like a reunion with its own history: a chance to revisit the glories, surprises, and defining chapters of Olympic skating on Italian ice, and to imagine what stories today's generation will carve out on the ice in 2026.
Italy first played host to the Winter Olympic Games in 1956. The figure skating competitions at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics were the last in Olympic history to take place in an open-air, uncovered rink and the first Olympic figure skating competitions to be broadcast live on television to an international audience. Through a tape relay from RAI, skating fans in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom lucky enough to own a black-and-white television set could watch Salchows and spirals to their heart's content, from the comfort of their living room.
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The Cortina Games produced several enduring snapshots: outdoor audiences bundled in blankets, the crisp sound of blades slicing natural ice, and the kind of atmospheric performances only possible in an open-air rink. Weather conditions occasionally added an element of unpredictability that modern skaters never face in climate-controlled arenas. Skaters contended with temperature fluctuations, bright glare from the sun and winds. In the women's event, the first compulsory figure was skated during a heavy snowstorm, and visibility was so poor that it was almost impossible for judges to see the tracings on the ice. Ice conditions were very poor for the men's free skating, and the glare from the sun was so bad that David Jenkins remarked that it "made it hard to tell where the ice was when landing a jump."
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Many firsts were carved out on the ice the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Tenley Albright made history as the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating. In the men's event, a trio of Americans (Hayes and David Jenkins and Ronnie Robertson) took home top honours. It was the first time skaters from North America swept the podium in the men's event at the Winter Olympic Games. In the pairs event, Canada's Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden narrowly lost out on the gold medal to Austrian pair Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt.
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The late Mildred Richardson, wife of international judge and eminent British figure skating writer T.D. Richardson, recalled, "The main stadium stand, rising high above the two rinks, was beautifully designed; somewhat after the fashion of a wooden mountain farmhouse. With the rose red peaks of the Dolomites towering behind, it made a striking picture. There was only one snag for us and that was that the Press seats were right at the top and far too high above the ice for us to be able to see, with any accuracy, what was going on below. The seating was comfortable with good desks, and a form of gas heater or fire, running all along above our heads; very cosy! They employed this method to heat all the stands; an excellent and imaginative use by the Italians of their supply of natural gas. However at the rink, for us, no use so [T.D.] approached the rink manager – a most co-operative and charming man – and asked if we might have passes to the ice level. Although strictly speaking, this was forbidden except for trainers and those accompanying the skaters, we had no trouble in getting our permits. It was therefore from this unique vantage point that we were able to see all the figure skating and ice hockey events... It was very bad luck for the excellent Australian pair, Jacqueline Mason and Mervyn Bower of Sydney, who had worked so hard and profited so much from their training in St. Moritz, that after their arrival in Cortina, Mervyn had a nasty accident. I think he broke his ankle by hitting the barrier of the rink. To come so far and then have to withdraw from such an unfortunate injury was too bad... During the ladies free skating, there was nearly a riot. The ebullient crowd showed their disapproval of the marks awarded to Carol Heiss of America - a real little bombshell of a skater who took the silver medal - by hoots and whistles, cries of Banditti, and the hurling of bottles, cigarette cartons, oranges, tomatoes or what have you on to the ice, so that the judges had to take shelter. It held up the proceedings for about twenty minutes until order was restored and the ice cleared of rubbish. Needless to say, this had no effect on the marking and Tenley Albright got her well-deserved gold medal."
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The Italians loved their flying projectiles. In the pairs event, West Germans Marika Kilius and Franz Ningel's low marks were met with such ire that the judges and referee were pelted with oranges. So much fruit was thrown that the ice had to be cleared three times, amid a chorus of boos and screams.
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When the Winter Games returned to Italy in 2006, Olympic figure skating was unrecognizable from the sport that it was fifty years prior. Gone were the school figures, and the rise of television and the internet had increased the profile and popularity of the sport immensely. Skating fans were very knowledgeable and instead of throwing produce when they didn't like the marks, they threw shade.
The figure skating events were held indoors at the architecturally striking Palavela arena in Torino in 2006, and competitions were judged using the newly implemented IJS (International Judging System), marking a major shift from the 6.0 system. In the women's event, Shizuka Arakawa of Japan made history as the first Japanese skater to win Olympic gold, followed by Sasha Cohen of the United States and Irina Slutskaya of Russia. The men's singles podium featured Evgeni Plushenko of Russia, Stéphane Lambiel of Switzerland and Jeffrey Buttle of Canada. Two Chinese team stood on the podium together for the first time in the pairs event. Dan and Hao Zhang and Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao claimed the silver and bronze medals, behind Russian winners Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin. In ice dance, Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov became the first Ukrainian team to win an Olympic medal, earning the bronze medal, behind Olympic Gold and Silver Medallists Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov and Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto.
One of the most memorable moments at the 2006 Olympics in Torino occurred during the original dance. Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio, the team who made history as the first Italians to win an Olympic medal in ice dance four years prior at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, led after the compulsory dance. However, they took an uncharacteristic tumble late in their performance in their original dance. Their fall dropped them out of medal contention and the cameras captured Fusar-Poli's unforgettable glare at Margaglio - a look so fiery that it quickly became the stuff of legend. Long before memes dominated social media, her "death stare" - a brief, human moment of frustration - perfectly encapsulated the drama and emotion of Olympic figure skating, and it remains one of the most enduring images from the 2006 Torino Games.
Fast forward twenty years to 2026, and the stage is set once again for unforgettable moments on Italian ice at the Milano Cortina Games. If history is any guide, we can expect triumphs, heartbreaks, and the kind of performances that will be talked about for decades to come - proving once more that Italy remains a place where Olympic figure skating history is made.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Bluesky, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of eight fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating: https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.