The Olympic flame will be lit on Friday morning in the square of Italy's presidential palace before starting its journey across the country ahead of the 2026 Winter Games. The torch, ignited last month in ancient Olympia, the Greek birthplace of the ancient Games, was handed over in Athens to Italian organisers earlier this week. A lantern holding the flame was brought to the Quirinale Palace on Thursday evening and put on display in the Sala delle Vetrate, the palace's ceremonial hall. The Olympic flame will be lit in a cauldron set in Piazza del Quirinale in a ceremony that Italian President Sergio Mattarella and International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry are expected to attend.