Catholic Italy's Olympic host cities offer different access for Muslims to observe Ramadan

MILAN (AP) — This year's Olympic and Paralympic Games are located in Italy, a historically Catholic nation. And they coincide with Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that’s a time for dawn-to-dusk fasting, religious reflection and communal celebration.

One of the two host cities, Milan, is multicultural and cosmopolitan, and there are Islamic centers and mosques spread around the city to gather and worship. At least one is welcoming people of other faiths wishing to partake in iftar dinners, when Muslims break their daily fast.

Up in the mountains, around the village of Cortina d'Ampezzo, prayer spaces are harder to come by. Still, Muslim residents in the area over recent years have been carving out their communities.

Here's how some Muslims are observing Ramadan in Milan and Cortina:

Milan’s Al-Wahid mosque is opening its doors during Ramadan, inviting guests to share the breaking of the fast and evening prayers. Near Milan’s Navigli district, it has been officially recognized as a place of worship by the city since 2000.

Fridays — the weekly day of congregational prayer in Islam — draw larger crowds to mosques. On those days during Ramadan for the last few years, Al-Wahid welcomes guests from the municipality, local institutions, the Catholic Church and other religious communities. Interfaith iftars have become common in many parts of the world, including Muslim-majority countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan, and in Australia and the United States, where Muslims are a relatively small minority.

Al-Wahid's open gatherings aren't specifically for Olympic visitors, though they are scheduled weekly through March 14 — the day before the Paralympics end.

“The Olympics are a symbolic moment,” Imam Yahya Pallavicini, vice president of a national Islamic religious association known by its acronym COREIS, told The Associated Press. “Sport, culture and art can help reduce prejudice and fear toward a particular culture or religious identity.”

At sunset on Feb. 20, a few dozen Muslim worshippers stood shoulder to shoulder beneath a row of hanging lamps. They waited for the call to prayer before breaking their fast with dates offered on silver plates. Then they sat on the floor to share lentils, rice, meat and water before ending the evening with prayer.

A 2025 report by a Milan-based migration research institute, ISMU, estimates that almost 400,000 Muslims live in Lombardy, the Italian region with the biggest immigrant population and which includes Milan, Italy's second-most populous city. The largest groups come from Morocco and Egypt, it said.

Pallavicini said the community also includes people from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bosnia, among others.

In the other Olympic host city, Cortina, at an elevation of about 1,220 meters (4,000 feet), eight Muslim people told the AP that finding a place to pray has proven challenging.

The upscale mountain town, known as the Queen of the Dolomites, is home to a little over 5,000 people. About half its population is part of Italy’s Ladin minority, which settled the mountain hamlet of Anpezo a millennium ago.

Rabah Boubegtiten, who traveled to work in the Olympics as a driver with Qatari security, said his drive to Brunico — the location of the nearest mosque he could find — took over an hour on a bad road. He found it using social media, having failed to locate one using Google, he added.

“There are many nationalities here, many Muslims from various countries: Algerians, Tunisians, other Africans, and many Qataris, because we are working with them during the Winter Olympic Games. They look everywhere to find a place to pray, but it’s almost impossible,” Boubegtiten, 52, who lives in Paris and is originally from Algeria, said. "For us, it’s really difficult. Sometimes, even if we want to come, we simply can’t."

An interfaith prayer room is available at each residential village for athletes across the spread-out Games, but they are not accessible to the general public.

Elsewhere in the Dolomites, residents have been making their own spaces. They said there are sufficient places to worship around Brunico, which itself has about 17,000 people, as well as halal butchers and shops to accommodate the local Muslim population.

Around 120 people attended the Friday prayer in Brunico, sitting on the crowded floor in a room surrounded by curtains and listening to a sermon in Italian. Afterward, they were asked for donations to help cover the space's rent and utility bills.

“In Italy, Ramadan is not an impossible thing. It is possible to practice Ramadan, it’s possible to pray,” said Kreem Wardi, whose father is Muslim from Morocco and mother is from Italy and Catholic. "It is not easy to find a mosque everywhere in Italy. But in this area, we are fine for now, inshallah.”

Wardi, a 20-year-old student, noted that in Brunico it's uncommon to invite non-Muslims to iftar dinners or share Ramadan traditions.

“They maybe don’t want to talk about Islam. It’s not that they hate us Muslims, but it’s just that they are maybe not interested, so we don’t want to force it upon them,” he said.

While the vast majority of Italy’s 59 million people are baptized Catholic, about three-quarters identify with the religion and far fewer regularly attend church. Muslims number 1.7 million, accounting for over 30% of the foreign resident population for the first time, ISMU, the migration research institute, said in July.

Migration over the past decade has stirred right-wing, anti-immigrant sentiment in some parts of Europe. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who heads the far-right Brothers of Italy party, pledged a crackdown on migration after taking office in 2022, with the goal of deterring would-be refugees from paying smugglers to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.

A large portion of today's Muslim population in Italy are migrants, but there is a growing number of second-generation Italian Muslims, converts and people born in Italy, Pallavicini said in Milan.

When the call to prayer finally echoed through the Al-Wahid mosque close to 7 p.m., men and women bowed in unison, their foreheads close to the floor.

Amina Croce, 28, was one of them. Born to Italian Catholic parents who converted to Islam and raised her as a Muslim, she said the mosque "has been a very significant part of who I am.”

Beyond religious observance, Croce added, she sees the faith as part of Europe’s history.

“We believe this diversity is part of Italy’s broader cultural heritage,” said Croce, who leads the youth division of COREIS. “It may still be underappreciated, but we hope it will be recognized more in the future.”

Bwaitel reported from Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

AP Winter Olympics coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Muslim worshippers pray at the Al-Wahid mosque during Ramadan in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, as the city hosts the Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/María Teresa Hernández)

Muslim worshippers break their fast at the Al-Wahid mosque during Ramadan in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, as the city hosts the Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/María Teresa Hernández)

Dates are arranged on silver plates before the breaking of the fast at the Al-Wahid mosque during Ramadan in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/María Teresa Hernández)

Imam Yahya Pallavicini, vice president of the Italian Islamic Religious Community, speaks at the Al-Wahid mosque during Ramadan in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, as the city hosts the Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/María Teresa Hernández)

Imam Abd al-Basit calls to prayer at the Al-Wahid mosque during Ramadan in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, as the city hosts the Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/María Teresa Hernández)

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Maybe the most staggering thing of Eileen Gu's entire gold medal-winning day was she lost her balance on the first trick in her first run.

Perhaps she is mortal? But maybe not as Gu defended her Olympic ski halfpipe title on Sunday to make it six medals in six events over her Winter Games career.

“She is ‘Wonder Woman,’” New Zealand’s Mischa Thomas said.

The 22-year-old Gu, American-born but competing for her mother’s homeland of China, is already the most decorated freeskier in the short history of the sport at the Olympics. She also captured two silver medals at the Milan Cortina Games, to pair with two golds and a silver from the Beijing Games.

“The reason I love the records so much is that it’s not about man or woman,” Gu said. “I’m the most decorated freeskier of all time, male or female. … That’s a testament to competitive strength, it’s mental strength. It’s being able to perform under pressure. It has nothing to (do with) if you’re a boy or a girl.”

Gu won the event on the strength of her second run, a clean, technically sound pass. She got even better in her final run — pumping his ski poles after landing the final trick — and finished with a score of 94.75. Her teammate, Li Fanghui, took silver and Zoe Atkin of Britain was third.

“She is unreal,” Thomas said of Gu. “It’s pretty crazy how good she is.”

The event was rescheduled to Sunday following a big snowstorm the night before. It was a bright, sunny day as Gu shined in the final event at the Livigno Snow Park. She shielded her eyes from the sun to catch a peek of her winning score — and instantly liked what she saw.

There were quite a few Gu fans at the base of the halfpipe, holding up pictures of her and waving flags.

“Being able to lead the way and pioneer the sport is something I never imagined I’d be able to do,” Gu said. “But I’m really honored and proud that I have.”

Atkin, an American-born skier who competes for her father’s homeland of Britain, soared high all contest, a staggering 5.4 meters (18 feet) above the pipe at one point. She finished ninth at the Beijing Games but has been a steady presence on World Cup podiums ever since. She has three victories over the last four years, all in events where Gu didn’t compete.

The 23-year-old Atkin is the defending world champion.

“(Gu) is a really great competitor. She’s a really amazing skier,” said Atkin, whose sister, Isabel, won an Olympic bronze in ski slopestyle at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. “We have an amazing group of skiers as well. I think the level is truly unmatched, and I think that’s really special. I think that makes it really exciting to watch for the next coming years.”

Canada's Amy Fraser echoed that.

“She’s a great skier, and she raises the level for everyone else, but she’s not unbeatable,” said Fraser, who finished fourth. “I don’t think the level is untouchable.”

In her second run, Thomas dropped into the halfpipe — and dropped her phone. It had to be retrieved for Thomas. After the competition, she reported: “My phone is great. Never been better.”

Svea Irving was a “DNS” — did not start — in the American’s second run. She returned for a third run but struggled to complete a maneuver and finished in 11th.

Atkin took the lead after the first run with a smooth performance. Meanwhile, Gu lost her balance on her first trick and cut the run short.

Cassie Sharpe of Canada sat out the final after a hard crash in Thursday’s qualifying round. She won the gold in the event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and silver four years later in Beijing.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Gold medalist China's Eileen Gu reacts to winning the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Gold medalist China's Eileen Gu celebrates winning the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

China's Eileen Gu reacts during the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

China's Eileen Gu, left, reacts alongside her mother, Yan Gu, during the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Britain's Zoe Atkin celebrates during the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

China's Eileen Gu celebrates during the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

China's Eileen Gu competes during the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

China's Eileen Gu smiles during the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

China's Eileen Gu, right, reacts alongside her mother, Yan Gu, after Canada's Cassie Sharpe crashed during the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)