Sawt Falasteen - Italy's dormant bobsleigh track ready for troubled 2026 Winter Olympics

Sun, snow and the passage of time have had their effect on the track which snakes down the Piedmontese Alps but at the entrance one bright red message can be read -- "Passion lives here".

Only a true Olympics fanatic would remember that it was the slogan of the Turin Games, or maybe the local mayor Roberto Vaglio.

In the four years he has led this small town of 960 inhabitants, located at an altitude of 1,300 metres, Vaglio has been wondering what on earth to do with an unused track which cost 110 million euros to build.

Then all of a sudden it found itself at in the middle of a sporting and political soap opera, the sort of which Italy seems to specialise in.

- 'This Olympics is Italian' -

The next Winter Olympics will be held over February 6-22 in 2026, and as with every organising country Italy is wondering what to do about the event's bobsleigh and luge track.

It is a structure which is costly to build and maintain and holds little interest for the local population, as well as being slammed by environmental protection organisations.

The initial idea to build a new track on the same site as for the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Games was eventually abandoned over budgetary problems, and two weeks ago the head of Italy's Olympic Committee (CONI) Giovanni Malago told an ICO Session in Mumbai that sliding events would have to be held outside the host nation.

But only a few days later a major meeting called by the Italian government led to the idea of using Cesana or Cortina being brought back to life.

"We were told to make ourselves available," confirms Vaglio.

"This Olympics is Italian so it would be a bit strange to send events abroad, and spend money abroad, when we have the possibility to get this track back up and running at relatively low cost."

Renovating the Cesana track, which would also mean rebuilding the refrigeration system which was demolished because it used the outdated method of using ammonia to make ice, would cost roughly 30 million euros compared to the 80 million euros needed to build a new track from scratch.

Asked by AFP about the possibility of using the Cesana track, the Milan-Cortina organisation committee said that it was "evaluating different options with the relevant authorities".

- Ski Dome -

The prospect of hosting Olympic events for the second time hasn't created much enthusiasm in Cesana itself.

"I don't know what to think, of this project like all the others," said one patron of the only bar open outside the tourist season.

Vaglio says that many locals were seduced by plans for a Ski Dome, in which the bobsleigh track would be demolished and on the same site a new indoor skiing centre was to be build, one that was open all year round and capable of attracting ski enthusiasts from Italy and nearby France.

"It's doable and would have less impact on the environment, but there's just one problem: the cost," he says.

"We're talking about 50 million euros which no-one, neither the province, the region nor the local council can cover."

The Cesana track is 200 kilometres from Milan and a whopping 600km from Cortina, and if it were to be used the 2026 Games would be the most geographically spread out in history.

And this prospect is unlikely to please local environmental activists, who for years have also been fighting the Lyon-Turin high-speed rail link which is under construction not far away.

They left a simple message underlining their disapproval on the track's concrete walls: "2006 Olympics, devastated mountains".

R.Shaban--SF-PST