Italy sets up synthetic curling rinks near the Colosseum

Three synthetic, ice-free curling rinks went up in Colle Oppio, the park overlooking Rome’s Colosseum, as Sport e Salute tried to give curling a public stage in summer heat. The rinks were installed in the park’s playground area from mid-June and were scheduled to remain until mid-September, turning one of Rome’s most visible spots into a summer showcase for a winter sport.

The push leaned on Italy’s breakthrough in Beijing 2022, when Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini beat Norway 8-5 in mixed doubles to win the country’s first-ever Olympic curling gold medal and its first Olympic curling medal of any kind. The result jolted attention inside a tiny national curling scene that had long sat in the shadow of more established winter sports. Sports editor Aldo Peinetti summed up the shift in a line that became shorthand for the sport’s new status: “We have two periods: Before gold medal. After gold medal.”

That victory also raised hopes that curling could finally grow beyond a niche following in Italy. In the days after the Beijing win, the country’s curling community saw the gold as a chance to lift the sport’s profile alongside alpine skiing and other winter disciplines that already command broader public recognition and institutional support.

The Rome installation also pointed toward Milano Cortina 2026, where curling had been slated to include men’s, women’s and mixed doubles competitions, with 10 National Olympic Committees in each event. Italy qualified automatically as the host nation, giving the country a built-in platform for the sport at home. In February 2026, NBC Olympics called Constantini and Mosaner Italy’s “golden duo” and noted that they had won the world championships the previous year, adding to the sense that the pair had become the public face of Italian curling.

Set against the Colosseum, the rinks turned that momentum into a visible test of reach. The location in Colle Oppio, beside one of Rome’s most famous monuments, gave the sport an audience far beyond the regular curling crowd, and put a synthetic summer rink at the center of Italy’s effort to turn one Olympic gold into something more durable.