Tra Guerra Fredda e Dolce Vita - L'Olimpiade di Cortina 1956

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Tenley Albright who started skating as a child to recover from polio, and won the gold in Cortina despite a serious injury. The Prince of Sweden who invited the track skaters and sled drivers to his gala reception.

Toni Sailer who forcefully entered history by winning all the alpine skiing races by monstrous margins, Sophia Loren who arrived with just the essentials for a couple of days packed into seven bright red trunks. 

Eugenio Monti who on his home track collected the first honors of a career that ended 12 years later, at age 40, with two Olympic golds, and Lester Rodney who wrote for the newspaper of the American Communist Party describing Soviet triumphs during the height of the Cold War.

These are just some of the protagonists of Cortina 1956, the first Olympics held in Italy, at the dawn of the economic boom, just eleven years after the end of World War II. But those described by Andrea Goldstein were also the first broadcast live on television, the first in which the two Germanys competed under the same flag...

As the «Libertad» of Valladolid wrote: «while the official delegates cheerfully toast with frequent elegant cocktails amidst the thick smoke of tobacco, rivers of vermouth, and beautiful and sophisticated tourists from all over the world, the athletes sweat on the snowy competition tracks.» The story of Cortina 1956, which ideally leads from those unforgettable Games to 2026. 

Andrea Goldstein is an economist and author of numerous essays on economics, sports, and globalization. He collaborates with Il Sole 24 Ore, the Aspen Institute, and teaches in Italy and abroad. His latest books combine economic analysis and sports storytelling. Cortina 1956 (Rubbettino) is his contribution to the memory of an Olympics that changed Italy.

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