Milan’s Olympic Turn Exposes Strains Emerging With City’s Boom

Milan’s role hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics spotlights a decades-long effort to transform Italy’s business capital into a global city on par with London, Paris or New York.

The historically industrial city has undergone nothing short of a renaissance, attracting the lion’s share of the roughly 5,000 wealthy individuals who have moved to Italy using generous fiscal breaks in place since 2017. Top Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Richard Gnodde and Greg O’Hara, founder of investment firm Certares Management, are among those who now call Milan home.