At Gallerie d’Italia, exhibition on the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina

The exhibition includes 86 photographs, 84 in black and white and two in colour, tracing the Games from their preparatory phase to the closing ceremony. The exhibition path highlights the construction of key venues, the competitions themselves and the atmosphere surrounding the event, including athletes’ training moments, leisure time and the work of journalists.

Alongside sports photography, the exhibition also presents images commissioned by companies that invested in communication during what was then the world’s most important sporting event.

Publifoto extensively covered the 1956 Winter Olympics, producing more than 100 photo reports and around 1,400 photographs with the involvement of six experienced photographers. Many of the images on display come from the archive now largely preserved at the CSAC of the University of Parma, which holds a significant part of Publifoto’s sports photography collection.

Cortina 1956 ^TM marked a turning point for Italy. Only a few years after the end of the Second World War, the country demonstrated its ability to design and deliver a complex international event, helping to restore credibility on the global stage. The Games were also broadcast live on television in several European countries, permanently changing the relationship between sport and its audience.

On the occasion of the exhibition, all photographs related to Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 ^TM held by the Publifoto Archive of Intesa Sanpaolo – 270 images in black and white and colour – have been restored, digitised and catalogued. The collection is now available online through the Intesa Sanpaolo Historical Archive.

The project reflects Intesa Sanpaolo’s long-term commitment to preserving and promoting Italy’s artistic and historical heritage as a core element of its institutional role.

Gallerie d’Italia – Milan, together with the venues in Turin, Naples and Vicenza, are part of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Gallerie d’Italia museum project. 

The exhibition is open to the public from 6 February to 3 May 2026. For further information, please visit the Gallerie d’Italia website.

1. Italian athletes during training, 15 January 1956
Photograph by Franco Gremignani - Publifoto
CSAC, University of Parma

2. A member of RAI staff and a bus to take staff working, in a street in Cortina d'Ampezzo, 18 January 1956
Photograph by Franco Gremignani - Publifoto
CSAC, University of Parma

3. Sophia Loren in Cortina d’Ampezzo during the 7^th Winter Olympic Games ^TM, 30 January 1956
Photograph by Publifoto
Intesa Sanpaolo Publifoto Archive

4. The ice rink used for the time trials on Lake Misurina, January 1956
Photograph by Publifoto
Intesa Sanpaolo Publifoto Archive