The route for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics torch relay has been announced in Rome by Italy's National Olympic Committee, exactly one year before the start of the event.
The 64-day relay will cover more than 11,000 kilometers throughout Italy before the torch lights the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony on February 10, 2006.
After the customary lighting of the flame in Ancient Olympia, Greece on December 7, 2005, Italian marathoner Stefano Baldini will run the first 400 meters in Rome the following day. The torch will be carried by 10,000 different people and will go past the Leaning Tower of Pisa and up Venice's Grand Canal in a route that covers every region and province in Italy.
After leaving Rome, the flame will pass through Florence, Genoa, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, Bologna, Venice and Milan before arriving in the Turin area one week before the games.
The torch design by the famous Pinafarina firm will be unveiled next month.