Three days from now, 665 Paralympic athletes walk into one of the oldest venues on earth. The Arena di Verona has been standing since 30 AD, and on March 6 at 1:30 PM ET on Peacock, it belongs to them. Set your reminder now.

The Arena

The Arena di Verona holds 30,000 people inside pink limestone tiers the Romans built expecting them to last. It operates today as one of the world's great outdoor opera stages, which tells you something about the acoustics before a single athlete steps inside. This is the first Paralympic Opening Ceremony at a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Getting this venue genuinely accessible required real work. The Organizing Committee invested €20 million throughout Verona: the arena itself, the surrounding city, the corridors that Roman engineers built narrow and the steps that two millennia of foot traffic have worn smooth. Paralympic athletes have spent their careers navigating spaces that weren't built for them. For those athletes, moving freely through this venue on March 6 is what that investment was for.

The Parade

The parade of nations is the best part of any Paralympic opening, and this one is worth your full attention from the start. Paralympic protocol orders most nations alphabetically in the host country's language, with Italy entering last. The host of the previous Winter Games, China, enters toward the end of the traditional nations block.

Team USA's flag bearer will have been announced before March 6. Check the IPC's official site for the announcement. Knowing who carries the flag gives you a name to track as the delegation enters the arena.

These are athletes from countries that rarely show up at Winter Games, from programs built on passion and not much else. There are 665 of them, and they've each spent four years getting to this walk. The parade takes time, and all of it is worth your attention.

The Ceremony

The program is titled "Life in Motion," produced by Filmmaster Group under Ceremonies Director Maria Laura Iascone. Stewart Copeland, co-founder and drummer of The Police, headlines the musical lineup. Alongside him is Meduza, the Italian house music trio that has moved from club culture into global radio over the past few years.

Those two acts, inside a first-century Roman amphitheater: it's the kind of pairing that works better than it sounds, in part because no one has tried it in a venue like this one.

The torch arrives from Cortina today, where five regional Paralympic flames merged into one. On March 6, that flame reaches the arena and lights the cauldron. The cauldron lighting is the moment to stay in your seat for.

The Finale

The ceremony closes with "Nel blu dipinto di blu," Domenico Modugno's 1958 Italian song known internationally as "Volare." The Volare Milano Cortina 2026 initiative collected vocal contributions from people around the world for use in the closing performance. The voices belong to people who wanted to be part of this ceremony and never made it to Verona. Stay for it.

How to Watch

Peacock carries the full ceremony live at 1:30 PM ET. NBC, USA Network, and CNBC also carry selected coverage.

Peacock is also your destination for all 79 medal events through March 15. NBCUniversal has described this as its most comprehensive Paralympic broadcast. Every sport, every medal final, every day from March 6 through the closing ceremony on March 15.

Schedules and streaming details are at NBC Olympics and the IPC's Milano Cortina 2026 site.

Block two hours. On March 6, 665 athletes walk into the Arena di Verona and it belongs to them.