Italian Women in Black Shawls Follow Olympic Torch Procession Ahead of 2026 Winter Games

Casting a mournful pall over the procession making its way through the foothills and dusty roads of northern Italy, thousands of wailing, black-shawl-clad Italian women were seen following the Olympic torch this week in the run-up to the 2026 Winter Games.

The women, wearing dark head coverings and clutching religious icons that bore the image of St. Catherine of Siena, reportedly sobbed and stayed close to the torchbearers and NBC camera crew throughout the final leg of the 7,500-mile relay.

which ends Friday with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at Milan's S