Critics say the new measures, which allow for suspects to be preventively detained, further erode civil liberties in Giorgia Meloni’s Italy.

Italy says it blocked Russian-linked cyberattacks hitting Milano Cortina 2026 sites and Cortina hotels, as Olympic cybersecurity tightens.

MILAN (AP) — All the worries, strife and scrutiny that lingered around the construction of the main hockey arena for the Milan Cortina Olympics dissipated as the first game there into a celebration for the host country.

Ms. Meloni’s conservative government has focused on law and order since taking office in October 2022. A security decree passed in June 2025 created more than a dozen new crimes, including protest activity in prisons and migrant centers, and made some kinds of demonstrations punishable with up to two years in prison.

Restorer Bruno Valentinetti admitted to a newspaper that he styled the angel on Giorgia Meloni but didn’t say why.

Italy has only ever competed at the Olympics once, that coming the last time Italy hosted the Winter Games in 2006. The team finished last in the eight-team tournament. They have a chance to turn some heads in the lesser Group B, though a quarterfinal berth will be tough.

The Milan Winter Olympics were meant to start with a celebration, but the Games hit turbulence even before the opening ceremony on February 6. From unfinished infrastructure and logistical headaches to ongoing climate concerns,