Verona prepares its ancient arena for the Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday

VERONA, Italy (AP) — A city forever associated with Romeo and Juliet, Verona will host the final act of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday inside the ancient Roman Arena, where some 1,500 athletes will celebrate their feats against a backdrop of Italian music and dance.

Acclaimed ballet dancer Roberto Bolle has been rehearsing for the closing ceremony inside the Arena di Verona this week under a veil of secrecy, along with some 350 volunteers, for a spectacle titled “Beauty in Motion," which frames beauty as something inherently dynamic.

“Beauty cannot be fixed in time. This ancient monument is beautiful if it is alive, if it continues to change,” said the ceremony's producer, Alfredo Accatino. “This is what we want to narrate: An Italy that is changing, and also the beauty of movement, the beauty of sport and the beauty of nature."

Other headlining Italian artists include singer Achille Lauro and DJ Gabry Ponte, whose hits could be heard blasting from the Arena during rehearsals this week.

Inside a tent serving as a dressing room, seamstresses put the finishing touches on costumes inspired by the opera world as volunteers prepped for the stage.

“It’s really special to be inside the Arena,'' said Matilde Ricchiuto, a student from a local dance school. "Usually, I am there as a spectator and now I get to be a star, I would say. I feel super special.”

The Arena has been a venue for popular entertainment since it was first built in A.D. 1, predating the larger Roman Colosseum by decades. Accatino said the ancient monument will produce some surprises from within its vast tunnels.

“Under the Arena there is a mysterious world that hides everything that has happened. At a certain point, this world will come out," Accatino said, promising “something very beautiful."

The ceremony will open with athletes parading triumphantly through Piazza Bra into the Arena, which once served as a stage for gladiator fights and hunts for exotic beasts.

The closing ceremony stage was inspired by a drop of water, meant to symbolically unite the Olympic mountain venues with the Po River Valley, where Milan and Verona are located, while serving as a reminder that the Winter Games are being reshaped by climate change.

While the opening ceremony was held in Milan, the other host city, Cortina d’Ampezzo, nestled in the Dolomite mountains, was considered too small and remote to host the closing ceremony. Verona, in the same Veneto region as Cortina, was chosen for its unique venue and relatively central location, said Maria Laura Iascone, the local organizing committee's head of ceremonies.

“Only Italians can use such monuments to do special events, so this is very unique, very rare," Iascone said of the Arena.

She promised a more intimate evening than the opening ceremony in Milan's San Siro soccer stadium, with about 12,000 people attending the closing compared with more than 60,000 for the opening.

Iascone said about 1,500 of the nearly 3,000 athletes participating in the most spread-out Winter Games in Olympic history are expected to drive a little over an hour from Milan and between two and four hours from the six mountain venues.

Italy on Thursday named gold-medal winners Lisa Vittozzi and Davide Ghiotti to carry the Italian flag at the closing ceremony, bringing up the rear of the 92 nations.

Vittozzi took home Italy’s first individual gold medal in biathlon and won, coming back from an injury that sidelined her for all of last season. Ghiotti, from Veneto city in Vicenza, won the men’s pursuit speed skating gold medal along with Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti, beating the U.S. world record-holders and favorites.

One of the key moments of the ceremony is when the Olympic flag is handed over to the next Winter Games host nation, France. The French flag will then be raised next to Italy’s.

The ceremony will close with the Olympic flames being extinguished in Milan and Cortina, to be viewed via video link. A light show will substitute fireworks, which are not allowed in Verona to protect animals from being disturbed.

The Verona Arena will also be the venue for the Paralympic opening ceremony on March 6. For the ceremonies, the ancient Arena has been retrofitted with new wheelchair ramps and accessible restrooms along with other safety upgrades. The six Paralympic events will be held in Milan and Cortina until March 15.

Dressmaker Giulia Ciccarelli works in a dress room outside the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Dressmaker Luciana Donadio works in a dressing room outside the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Volunteers stand close to the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Director of ceremonies Maria Laura Iascone speaks, during an interview with The Associated Press, outside the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Creative Director Alfredo Accatino speaks, during an interview with The Associated Press outside the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

LONDON (AP) — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former British prince who was stripped of his royal titles because of his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

While Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with his friendship with Epstein, concerns about Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to the late financier have dogged the royal family for more than a decade. But the arrest of a brother of a monarch was an extraordinary development with no precedent in modern times that will no doubt put more pressure on the crown.

After the arrest, King Charles III said that the law must take its course in the investigation, and he sought to distance the royal family from Mountbatten-Windsor.

Thames Valley Police said that a man in his 60s from Norfolk in eastern England was arrested and remained in custody. The force, which covers areas west of London, including Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, did not identify the suspect, in line with standard procedures in Britain, but pointed to its statement when asked to confirm if Andrew was arrested.

Mountbatten-Windsor, who turned 66 on Thursday, moved to his brother King Charles III’s estate in Norfolk after he was evicted from his longtime home near Windsor Castle earlier this month.

Thames Valley Police previously said it was “assessing” reports that Mountbatten-Windsor sent confidential trade reports to Epstein in 2010, when the former prince was Britain’s special envoy for international trade. Those reports stemmed from correspondence between the two men that was among the millions of pages of documents from the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into Epstein that were released last month.

“Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office,’’ Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said in a statement. “We understand the significant public interest in this case, and we will provide updates at the appropriate time.”

Police also said they were searching two properties.

The arrest came after pictures circulated online that appeared to show unmarked police cars at Wood Farm, Mountbatten-Windsor’s home on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, with plainclothes officers gathering outside.

“This is the most spectacular fall from grace for a member of the royal family in modern times,” said Craig Prescott, a royal expert at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Policing commentator Danny Shaw told the BBC that in most cases, suspects are held between 12 and 24 hours and are then either charged or released pending further investigation.

The absolute longest the former prince can be held for is 96 hours — but this would require multiple extensions from senior police officers and a Magistrate’s Court. It is unclear what time Andrew was arrested.

Andrew will be placed in “a cell in a custody suite” with just “a bed and a toilet,” where he will wait until his police interview.

“There’ll be no special treatment for him,'' Shaw said.

The late Queen Elizabeth II forced her second son to give up royal duties and end his charitable work in 2019 after he tried to explain away his ties to Epstein during a catastrophic interview with the BBC.

But more details about the relationship emerged in a book published last year, and Charles stripped him of the right to be called a prince and ordered him to move.

Then came the unprecedented announcement last week that Buckingham Palace was ready to cooperate in the event of a police inquiry into Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein.

Charles was forced to act after the U.S. Justice Department released millions of pages of Epstein documents that revealed the extent of his relationship with Mountbatten-Windsor and showed that their correspondence continued long after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution.

After Thursday’s arrest, Charles issued a statement to reiterate that he would cooperate with the investigation.

“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course,’’ the king said in a statement signed Charles R. “As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter.’’

He added: “My family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all.’’

Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York in 2019. He took his own life in jail while awaiting trial.

FILE - Prince Andrew leaves St. Giles Cathedral after the arrival of the coffin containing the remains of his mother Queen Elizabeth, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

FILE - Britain's Prince Andrew, center, and his daughters Princess Eugenie, left, and Princess Beatrice leave Westminster Abbey after the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton, in London, April 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer, File)

FILE - Prince Andrew leaves after attending the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham in Norfolk, England, Dec. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - Britain's Prince Andrew, greets a business leader during a reception at the sideline of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool, File)

FILE - A document showing an email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, and who Epstein referred to as "The Duke," that was in a U.S. Department of Justice release, is photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)

FILE - Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - Then-Britain's Prince Andrew, left, and Britain's King Charles III leave after the Requiem Mass service for the Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral in London, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan, File)