I labored on the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics as a university scholar. I used to be fortunate sufficient for the official meals service firm of the Olympics to supply me a job promoting sizzling buttered rums and warm-you-up snacks at occasions together with the luge, the bobsled, and the ski soar. I additionally bought sizzling chocolate on the Opening Ceremonies, carrying an unlimited vat of the candy, wintery beverage by way of the stands. It was chilly, it was exhilarating, and it was game-changing.
After my shift ended every day, I met up with pals to hang around in one among a handful of darling eating places and bars in postcard-perfect Lake Placid, New York — the mountains and timber frosted in white, with smiles at each flip. Everybody gathered within the village: the athletes, their households, spectators, media, and Olympic officers. We shared recollections of the day’s occasions, good meals, and hellos in dozens of languages. International warming of the guts.
I liked watching Eric Heiden velocity skate in Lake Placid (what a thrill!) and, in fact, the second when the U.S. pulled off the Miracle on Ice. However my finest recollections of the Eighties video games will not be watching the athletes win medals however watching individuals from everywhere in the globe win respect for one another. And the video games are a beautiful studying alternative to share with youngsters.
- Laurie promoting sizzling chocolate at Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics / Picture by Laurie Bain Wilson
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- A second on the ski soar throughout the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 1980 / Picture by Laurie Bain Wilson
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- The U.S. enters the stadium on the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics / Picture by Laurie Bain Wilson
Winter Olympics 2026: Italian Festivities within the U.S.
The Olympic Winter Video games 2026 in Italy will provide an antipasto of occasions unfold throughout Northern Italy in Milan, Cortina, Bormio, and different wintry Italian spots. Olympic protection typically contains titillating tales and pictures of the vacation spot’s tradition and delicacies. Italy, little doubt, might be particularly drool-worthy because of its wealthy meals, wine, and espresso café tradition. However you don’t need to journey to Italy to benefit from the riches of the area and faucet into the spirit of the tradition throughout the Winter Olympics, spanning February 6 to 22. You possibly can expertise among the flavors of Italian tradition proper right here in the USA.
The USA’s Italian neighborhoods can have all of the vibes you’re after. They’re all the time festive and energetic — the Olympics will solely make them extra participating.
Whereas cheering on Group USA, expertise Italy’s la dolce vita tradition and recipes handed down by way of the generations at these medal-worthy American spots.
Boston
Boston Public Backyard / Picture by Laurie Bain Wilson
This New England city is among the most European U.S. cities, mixing outdated with new seamlessly. Boston is for mitten-in-mitten strolls on snow-kissed cobblestoned streets, wood-burning fire glows, snowball throws at Boston Public Backyard (the nation’s oldest park), and way more.
Boston’s North Finish is like New York’s Little Italy. It’s a uniquely close-knit neighborhood, and Italian satisfaction might be on full show throughout the Olympics. Boston satisfaction might be a significant theme, too: Three of Boston Skating Membership members are competing within the Video games.
Slender streets flanked with genuine Italian eating places and bakeries outline the North Finish. Count on traces out the door at Mike’s Pastry, Fashionable Pastry, and Bova, three of the preferred spots for cannoli and cappuccinos.
Be aware: Bova is open 24 hours.
Order “The Milan,” an Olympics-theme sandwich at Bricco Salumeria & Pasta Store, and you’ll be rewarded with a rooster Milanese on focaccia with arugula. And sister Bricco Ristorante options every little thing you’d count on from a standard Italian restaurant. You’ll discover veal ossobuco, a preferred dish in Northern Italy the place the video games are being held. A swanky enoteca right here is a well-liked late-night spot with Italian dishes and sips, enjoyable for teenagers to expertise.
Regina Pizzeria can be celebrating a birthday; the old-fashioned pizza spot turns 100 this 12 months and is the oldest restaurant within the North Finish.
Be aware: The North Finish can be the place you’ll discover Paul Revere’s Home and the Outdated North Church for historical past lovers.
Boston skates circles round different cities with regards to out of doors winter sports activities. Lace up and go skating on the Boston Frequent Frog Pond and curling on the Liberty Resort. And expertise the much-anticipated Frostival Lodge within the coronary heart of Copley Sq.: a partnership between Meet Boston, Eataly, Wayfair, and NBC Boston. Count on a comfy winter lodge with cabin décor paying homage to the Italian Alps, warming nooks, heated out of doors patios, youngsters’ motion pictures. Eataly will provide Olympic-inspired meals and sips, together with pasta-making courses. And NBC Boston will present protection of the Olympics for guests to assist the U.S. throughout Olympic watch events.
New York Metropolis
Little Italy in New York Metropolis / Picture by Laurie Bain Wilson
Within the late 1800s, Italian immigrants moved into New York Metropolis’s downtown Manhattan in a neighborhood that grew to become generally known as Little Italy. The neighborhood is distinguished by white and inexperienced decorations that cling throughout small streets. As you traverse lots of the family-run markets and eating places, you’ll hear many workers and regulars conversing in Italian. It’s additionally house to the annual San Gennaro pageant in September. Subsequent month, Little Italy will certainly be obsessed with every little thing Italian for the Olympics.
Ferrara Bakery & Café in Little Italy, NYC / Picture by Laurie Bain Wilson
Ferrara Bakery & Café opened in 1892 and is a standard favourite for lobster tails and sfogliatella loved within the café. The oldest restaurant in Little Italy is Puglia, and it’s been the spot for reside music and rigatoni alla vodka since opening in 1919 by the Garofalo household (who nonetheless personal it). Lombardi’s is on the map right here as America’s first pizzeria. It opened in 1905 as a grocery retailer and is understood for its basic pies in addition to clam pies. Within the spirit of the Olympics held in fashion-forward Milan, the Rooster Milanese is a win.
NYC can even rejoice the Olympics in Bryant Park. Youngsters can channel their Olympic spirit with curling and ice skating right here. There’s a winter lodge for warm-ups, Olympic viewing events, and a bobsled from Group USA for photograph ops.
Make a cease at Rosetta Bakery. Based by lifelong pals from Milan, the bakery has a number of areas together with Bryant Park. The café has simple “Milanese power.” Don’t miss the bombolini, focaccia, and tiramisu: all signature gadgets with substances imported from Italy.
Be aware: Arthur Avenue within the Bronx, lesser recognized to vacationers, is one other well-liked Italian neighborhood that locals in-the-know can’t get sufficient of and the place the spirit throughout the Olympics might be on show within the retailers and eating places.
Windfall
DiPasquale Fountain in Federal Hill, Windfall / Picture courtesy of Kenneth C. Zirkel through Wikimedia Commons
Federal Hill in Windfall, Rhode Island, is akin to Manhattan’s Little Italy and Boston’s North Finish. On the coronary heart is DePasquale Sq.’s fountain, the place you’ll rejoice the video games with camaraderie with others braving the chilly winter nights.
And since Rhode Island produces probably the most squid within the nation, calamari is the official state appetizer. Ready the Rhode Island means with banana peppers and sizzling cherry peppers, you’re positive to heat up.
Al Forno is a James Beard award-winning restaurant that opened in 1980. Its signature dish is grilled pizza on a hardwood charcoal-fired grill, and the grilled pizza calamari is a regional hit.
Angelo’s Civita Farnese — named for Farnese, a small medieval city northwest of Rome — opened in 1924. In the present day, there are nonetheless cozy cubicles sitting on black and white checkered flooring. The menu signature pastina soup, aka Italian penicillin, transports households to the motherland. They’ve do-it-yourself tiramisu, too, which is a Northern Italy specialty.
Posters of Frank Sinatra and the solid of “The Godfather” cling on the partitions of the bar at Andino’s, the place you may rely on some Rat Pack music. That is one other calamari spot, however contemplate the veal and rooster saltimbocca, the home specialty.
San Francisco
North Seaside, San Francisco / Picture courtesy of Zachary Moneypenny
Whereas the Northeast is house to many “Little Italy’s” across the nation, the West Coast has North Seaside, San Francisco’s Italian haven. The neighborhood, situated simply north of Chinatown, grew to become house to many Italian immigrants following the 1906 earthquake. Italian satisfaction is all the time on show with the nation’s crimson, inexperienced, and white flag colours hanging throughout slim streets. Baseball nice Joe DiMaggio grew up right here on his favourite spaghetti and meatballs. North Seaside can be celebrated as the house of the Beat Technology with a wealthy literary historical past vibe; novelist and poet Jack Kerouac lived right here as nicely.
The oldest Italian restaurant within the nation is Fior d’Italia relationship to 1886, working in a number of totally different areas and finally touchdown in North Seaside’s San Remo Resort. Traditional Northern Italian dishes which are well-liked in the identical spots the Italian video games are being held embody risotto alla Milanese and osso buco con polenta.
Tony’s Pizza Napoletana (impressed by a small pizzeria in Naples, Italy), Molinari Delicatessen (San Fran’s oldest Italian deli relationship to 1896), and Caffe Greco and Caffe Trieste (espresso!) are different particular locations to go to for a bit of style of Italy. As a bonus choice, Vesuvio Café is a nod to each Italy and the neighborhood’s storied literary legacy.
It Takes an Olympic Village
The Olympic Video games are way more than a sporting occasion. They’re about the most effective in sports activities — and the most effective in individuals. The Olympics are about coming collectively. To benefit from the candy life. La dolce vita!
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