There is a deep connection, made of speed and precision, that unites the Dolomite peaks of 1956 to the challenges of Milano-Cortina 2026. It is the blue thread of the Italian Air Force, which just a few days ago celebrated an extraordinary historical coincidence: the seventieth anniversary of the Force's first Winter Olympic gold medal, won precisely in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Not just a sporting success, but a coincidence that has the flavour of destiny. At Cortina 1956 Winter Olympics In fact, it was a pair of Air Force pilots, Marshal Lamberto Dalla Costa and Major Giacomo Conti, who surprisingly won the gold medal in the two-man bobsleigh (which would remain Italy's only gold medal on that occasion), beating the favourite, the legendary Eugenio Monti.
Fighter pilots and Second World War veterans, Dalla Costa and Conti were chosen because piloting a bobsleigh required the same sensitivity and resilience to stresses as high-speed flight. Theirs was a true “technological” victory: the Air Force turned the competition into a laboratory, optimising the design of the sleds and introducing training techniques derived from athletics (such as the “jump and throw” push). At the time, the Armed Force deployed research and development, studying bobsleigh aerodynamics in wind tunnels and equipping the pilot-athletes with jet helmets.
It was historic doublethe only gold medal won by Italy in that Olympic edition and the first ever for the Air Force. At the end of the race, as soon as the news was received, some Air Force jets took off from Verona Villafranca Airport to fly over Cortina in honour of the two pilots. This was rapidly followed up: already from the Rome 1960 Olympics, the “Getti Tonanti” (Thunder Jets) aerobatic team began the long series of flypasts over major sporting events, which continues to this day thanks to the Frecce Tricolori.
In recent days, a series of events were held in Crespano del Grappa, the hometown of Marshal Pilot Lamberto Dalla Costa, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of that victory. The Italian Air Force also participated in these events, holding a series of historical and scientific meetings and conferences with its own personnel.
The circle is then ideally closed with Francesca Lollobrigida's medals – which, in this case too, were the first for Italy at the Olympics. A perfect handover between the “bobsleigh pioneers” and the champion Italian Air Force Sports Centre, United by the same spirit of service and a natural inclination for speed, always under the banner of the Tricolore. The attitude towards innovation and meticulous preparation that led Dalla Costa and Conti to Olympic Gold continues to support our athletes today, guaranteeing safety, dedication, and world-class results. Defence thus confirms itself as a Ideal bridge between those who have served the Nation in the past and those who today honour its values in international sporting arenas.
