The opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, held at the San Siro Stadium, featured a stellar and highly symbolic musical moment: the first public performance in Italian by the legendary Mariah Carey.

With a career backed by 19 number-one singles on Billboard and six Grammy Awards, Carey took center stage to fulfill a key goal of the organization: to highlight a cultural fusion that positions the event for an international audience. To this end, the singer paid a profound tribute to local culture.

Her choice was the iconic anthem “Nel Blu, dipinto di Blu,” universally known as “Volare.” This piece, written and performed by Domenico Modugno in 1958, is a national treasure that made history by awarding Italy its first two Grammy Awards.

The ceremony organizers emphasized that this selection specifically sought to “highlight local culture and project it to the world,” underscoring the symbolic reach of her participation.

Following this moving performance in Italian, Carey segued into “Nothing is Impossible,” a track from her most recent studio album, “Here For It All” (2025).

With this repertoire Dual, their performance set the perfect tone for the opening: a masterful balance between the international promotion of the event and a respectful approach to Italian tradition, demonstrating that on the San Siro stage, nothing was impossible to unite cultures.