The 2006 Winter Olympics torch reaches Rome

December 8, 2005

With the arrival of the torch to Rome, it begins the ritual of the 2006 Winter Olympics of Turin. The torch will travel across Italy transported by more than 10'000 carriers and it will arrive in Turin on February 9, 2006, where the Winter Olympics will be inaugurated, after 11'000 km (6,835 miles) of travel.

On November 27 the flame was burned on the altar of Hestia in Olympia, in Greece, and delivered to the first torch carrier, pole vaulter Kostas Fidippidis. The first Italian to carry the olympic flame is the marathoner Stefano Baldini, winner of gold medal at the Olympics in Athens. He received the torch from the President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

The torch
The olympic torch has a length of 77 cm (30 inches), and is 10,5 cm (4.13 inches) at its widest, with a weight of 1.9 kg (4.2 pounds). It was designed by Pininfarina and has a shape that remembers at the same time one ski and the Mole Antonelliana. Its external shell is made of an aluminum alloy, while the functional inner part is in steel, copper and high-tech polymer. The outside has a paint job resistant to high temperatures. Each torch is designed to burn for 15 minutes, at altitudes from sea level to 5'000 m (16,400 feet), in temperatures between -20°C and 25°C (-4 to 77 Fahrenheit). The flame is fed from a mixture of 40% propylene and 60% butane, which is contained in an aluminum cylinder in the torch.

The route
The route of the torch since the December 8, 2005 until the February 9, 2006:
 * December 8 Rome
 * December 10 Rieti
 * December 11 Perugia
 * December 12 Siena
 * December 13 Livorno
 * December 14 Florence
 * December 15 Lucca
 * December 16 Pisa
 * December 17 La Spezia
 * December 18 Genoa
 * December 19 Nuoro
 * December 20 Cagliari
 * December 21 Ragusa
 * December 22 Agrigento
 * December 23 Palermo
 * December 26 Catania
 * December 27 Reggio Calabria
 * December 28 Catanzaro
 * December 29 Cosenza
 * December 30 Potenza
 * December 31 Naples
 * January 1 Frosinone
 * January 2 Benevento
 * January 3 Taranto
 * January 4 Lecce
 * January 5 Bari
 * January 6 Foggia
 * January 7 Campobasso
 * January 8 Pescara
 * January 9 L'Aquila
 * January 10 Ancona
 * January 11 Arezzo
 * January 12 Rimini
 * January 13 Bologna
 * January 14 Parma
 * January 15 Mantua
 * January 16 Verona
 * January 17 Venice
 * January 18 Trieste
 * January 19 Udine
 * January 20 Tarvisio
 * January 21 Belluno
 * January 22 Treviso
 * January 23 Trento
 * January 24 Bozen-Bolzano
 * January 25 Ortisei
 * January 26 Cortina d'Ampezzo
 * January 27 Meran-Merano
 * January 28 Lecco
 * January 29 Milan
 * January 30 Varese
 * January 31 Pavia
 * February 1 Savona
 * February 2 Cuneo
 * February 3 Pinerolo
 * February 4 Sestriere
 * February 5 Bardonecchia
 * February 6 Albertville
 * February 7 Aosta
 * February 8 Venaria Reale
 * February 9 Turin