{"id":109650,"date":"2026-01-13T16:34:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T16:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=109650"},"modified":"2026-01-13T16:34:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T16:34:17","slug":"milano-cortina-2026-olympics-travel-guide-kathy-mccabe-interview","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/milano-cortina-2026-olympics-travel-guide-kathy-mccabe-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"GRAZIA Travel Guide: Milano Cortina 2026 \u2014 The ‘Quiet Olympics’ Guide to Travel Italy Like an Insider (Not a Tourist)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A picture shows the Olympic Rings in Antholz, one of the host cities of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, on January 22, 2025. (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO \/ AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a> arrive, Northern Italy won\u2019t just be hosting the world \u2014 it\u2019ll be putting on a masterclass in how to travel. The only catch? The Olympics tend to trigger a specific kind of panic-planning: people try to see everything, book everything, do it all in one frenetic itinerary… and end up exhausted, overpaying, and spending half their trip in transit.<\/p>\n

But travel expert Kathy McCabe, host of PBS\u2019 Dream of Italy<\/em><\/a> and editor-in-chief of Dream of Italy Magazine<\/em><\/a>, is encouraging a different approach: one that\u2019s calmer, smarter, and (very importantly) more Italian.<\/p>\n

Her advice, in short, is about experiencing the Olympics as a cultural moment \u2014 not a logistical endurance sport. After all, the Milano Cortina Games are poised to be unlike any Olympics we\u2019ve seen before.<\/p>\n

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Winter snowy landscape at dawn, Bormio, Sondrio province, Valtellina, Lombardy, Italy (Photo via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an exclusive interview with GRAZIA USA<\/em>, McCabe explains, \u201cit\u2019s the most spread out geographically in history,\u201d which she finds fascinating because \u201cthe world will be able to see multiple regions of Italy \u2014 big cities, small towns, areas that were influenced by Germany and Austria, and areas that are more traditionally Italian.\u201d That diversity, she adds, is what makes the moment so exciting.<\/p>\n

The geographic sprawl isn\u2019t a downside \u2014 it\u2019s the secret weapon. It opens the door to what we\u2019re calling the “Quiet Olympics”: a way to chase the Olympic atmosphere without sacrificing the slow-living, aperitivo-fueled, scenery-first magic that makes Italy, well… Italy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

GRAZIA’<\/em>s Milano Cortina 2026 Travel Guide:<\/span><\/h1>\n