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Lorenzi declined to name which officials planned to spend at least some of the Feb. 6-22 Games in the town that will host curling, sliding and women’s Alpine skiing.

But he said that officials were working on plans to secure their stays — including a helipad to make arrival from other venues easier. The Milan Cortina games are spread throughout northern Italy and the traveling distance between the two host cities by road runs some five hours, if not more.

Top government officials, including heads of state, as well as members of royal families typically attend the opening ceremony, which will be held in Milan on Feb. 6, and often stay on to attend events.

“Most people thought these figures would go to Milan, instead a lot of interest has been generated over the last year and a half to come to Cortina,’’ Lorenzi said. “Cortina is dominating the news about the Olympics to the point that it’s nearly become Cortina Milan instead of Milan Cortina.�

While the main opening ceremony is slated for the San Siro soccer stadium in Milan, Cortina will also host a smaller ceremony at the same time that will feature an athletes’ parade and the lighting of a cauldron.

Women’s Alpine skiing in Cortina is one of the games’ biggest draws, with American athletes like and and host Italy’s slated to compete.

Cortina will also host curling and the sliding events: bobsled, luge and skeleton.

The Italian government is rushing to complete the at a cost of 118 million euros ($136 million) after the International Olympic Committee had suggested holding the events on a track in nearby Austria or Switzerland instead.

Curling is especially dear to Lorenzi, who competed on the Italian national curling team in three European championships, in 1997, 1999 and 2000. But the mayor is not sure that his official duties will allow him the luxury of attending all the curling events as he would have liked.

“We’ll have a lot of VIPs here — both heads of state and royalty. So there will be official meetings which could lead to international partnerships for Cortina,'' he said.

These are the second Winter Games for Cortina, which hosted in 1956. Since then, Cortina has developed into a major tourist draw in particular for skiing and other Alpine sports in the winter; and hiking, climbing and biking in the summer months.

Lorenzi said the Olympics have already provided an ideal opportunity for Cortina to relaunch as a destination for international tourists, as it seeks investments and identifies twin cities to spread its charms. International visitation has started to pick up in recent years, as word of the Games spread, the mayor said.

"Cortina is well known internationally among people who do mountain tourism, but most people in general don't know it,'' Lorenzi said.

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Barry reported from Milan.

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