The 25th Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina opened tonight.
The first athletes passed through four locations in the parade, and Italy is hosting the Winter Games again after 20 years, after the city of Turin hosted the event in 2006.
These are the most extensive Olympic Games - summer or winter, with venues spread over more than 22.000 square kilometers, which is close to the size of the entire US state of New Jersey.
The main ceremony was held in Milan, at the famous "football stadium", the legendary San Siro stadium, which opened a century ago and is due to be replaced by a new one in the next few years.
The athletes paraded in three other places carrying the flags of their countries: Cortina d'Ampezzo in the heart of the Dolomites, Livigno in the Alps, and Predazzo in the autonomous province of Trento.
This allowed sports such as alpine skiing, bobsleighing, curling and snowboarding to be represented in the parade of nations without the need for a multi-hour journey to Milan.
For added effect, the closing ceremony on February 22nd will be held at another location - in Verona, the city where Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" is set.
Instead of one Olympic flame, two were lit at the Games - in different locations. Both were designed as a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci's geometric studies, one of which is located four kilometers from San Siro in Milan, and the other in Cortina.
The ceremony featured performances by American pop star Mariah Carey, legendary Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and a tribute to the late designer Giorgio Armani, who passed away recently at the age of 92.
Armani designed Olympic and Paralympic uniforms for the Italian national team for decades and was a personal friend of former Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malaga.
Montenegro is represented at the Games by Branislav Peković in alpine skiing and Aleksandar Grbović in Nordic skiing.
Three countries are making their debut at the Winter Olympics - Benin, Guinea-Bissau and the United Arab Emirates. Representatives from all three countries will compete in alpine skiing.
Bonus video:
