(AVN) Venice, 25 March 2025

“We’ve won the challenge and created a piece of history, reclaiming an abandoned area and sliding centre that had become something of a dumping ground. The new Eugenio Monti sliding centre won’t just be the most iconic in sporting terms—for bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge. Let’s call it our very own Guggenheim Museum, because people will come here to witness a one-of-a-kind work of architecture and engineering.”

These were the words of the President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, speaking today in Cortina during the opening of the Eugenio Monti Sliding Centre and the athletes’ first runs.

“Up here, we’ve shown,” Zaia added, “that determination and willpower lead to results: a project worth nearly 120 million euros, completed in just one year—proving wrong those who claim that major infrastructure cannot be delivered in Italy. Most importantly,” he stressed, “we’ve reclaimed a devastated mountain slope—essentially an open-air landfill—replanting as many as 10,000 trees. At the time, I called this project a ‘monument to madness,’ because the entire proposal came from one of my ideas, and I insisted the sliding centre be included in the dossier, since it’s the oldest in the world and had been left in a state of neglect. I won’t deny it—this is a great personal satisfaction. I started with an idea, despite many skeptics who said it would be a fiasco and a deception for the public. But instead, hundreds of thousands will come to Cortina, and we’ll be seen by at least 3 billion people through various media outlets. And let’s not forget—we’ve put forward Cortina to host both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Paralympic Games and the Olympic Closing Ceremony at the Verona Arena, which will also undergo a major restoration.”

“In Cortina,” he concluded, “we have built something that restores dignity and standing to the Queen of the Dolomites, while others wanted to send us across half of Europe for a sliding event. I also recall that the IOC stated this would be the last sliding centre ever built in the world.”

On the economic front, Zaia emphasized: “I won’t even go into the 1.5 points of GDP growth that prestigious universities have projected. I’ll just mention the most recent study, by Banca Ifis, which estimates the value at 5.3 billion euros. We can already see it on the streets, where construction sites are everywhere and cranes tower above. And, not a minor detail, we’re delivering 1.8 billion euros in public works—projects we wouldn’t have even dreamed of without the Olympics.”