Naple’s panettone story : NPR

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I was among the lucky journalists who got to take a peek around the Milan Olympic Village the week of the opening ceremony, Velcro-ing a “media” armband around my jacket and slipping into a sea of journalists, volunteers and Olympians from all over the world.

The village is a sprawl of modular buildings and high-rise apartments, with the flags and banners of the countries in residence hanging from balconies and windows. Sprinkled around it are important landmarks like the Olympic rings statue, a fitness center with cardio machines and weight racks, and a mindfulness room with coaches, yoga mats and tables for coloring and postcard writing. And the dining hall, obviously.

My teammate Pien Huang and I sat down with Daniel Smith, the Team USA Olympic Village director, on the ground floor of the seven-story building that the U.S. shares with athletes from Japan.

Smith said there are about 70 U.S. Olympians staying here throughout the Games — remember, only speedskating, figure skating and ice hockey compete in Milan — as well as some 40 U.S. support staffers. All told, the village will house some 1,500 athletes and team members from around the world over the course of three weeks.

Smith explained that a lot of decisions about daily life in the village — from what athletes eat to when they sleep to who gets a roommate — are up to the specific sports and individuals. But he and other U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee staff are there to “mitigate distractions,” whether that’s facilitating transportation or helping athletes who get locked out of their rooms.

“I think the feedback that we get is a lot of gratitude,” said Smith, who is working his third Games.

The cafeteria, where the food is intentionally bland.

Rachel Treisman/NPR

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Rachel Treisman/NPR

Just 72 hours after opening, it was too soon to tell what aspect of the village might go viral. So far Smith hasn’t seen any of the Olympic-themed condoms that were all the rage in Paris in 2024, or heard anyone fawning over specific desserts the way they did over the chocolate muffins (“We’re waiting on the desserts to kind of hit”).

In fact, the food isn’t exactly making waves — which Smith says is on purpose. Around lunchtime, the only real line we noticed was for pasta with meat sauce. While the yogurts, meats, vegetables, pasta, pizza and bread options seemed like pretty standard cafeteria fare to me (decidedly NOT an athlete), Smith says the food is blander than it looks.

“We’re here in Italy, in one of the capitals of gastronomy in the world, but here in the Olympic Village, the food is very catered to [be] sports-specific,” Smith adds. “So not a lot of condiments, not a lot of flavor. You kind of have to flavor your own food.”

What I’m eating

Panettone, warm from the oven.

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Rachel Treisman/NPR

Weeks ago, when I was researching-slash-manifesting quirky experiences for this newsletter, I came across an interesting tidbit: It’s a tradition in Milan for people to eat their leftover panettone — the raisin-studded Christmas fruitcake associated with the city — on Feb. 3.

That’s the feast day of San Biagio (Saint Blaise). The patron saint of throat illnesses, among other things, is credited with saving the life of a young boy who was choking on a fishbone — but has evidently taken on the role of protector against all sorts of throat-related ailments, including sleep apnea and strep.

According to several local English-language publications, many households in Milan put aside a piece of panettone at Christmastime so they can eat it later, as a way to protect against illness during flu season. That seems to be the result of a different apocryphal legend, involving a peasant woman who brought a panettone to a priest for a Christmas blessing but forgot to pick it up until many weeks later.

Anyway, I made a note of all this but woke up yesterday unsure whether I had the time and/or resources to investigate the status of stale panettone across the city. But in a thrilling turn of events, a group of us decided to split a dessert at dinner, and guess what was on the menu! Our waiter recommended the panettone immediately, and also confirmed that the tradition is real. Ours wasn’t a Christmas leftover, though — it was soft, warm and absolutely delicious.

In Olympic news

Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté of Spain competes at the European Figure Skating Championships in the U.K. on Jan. 15. He’ll be allowed to wear his Minion overalls at the Olympics this month.

Yuan Tian/NurPhoto via Reuters

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Yuan Tian/NurPhoto via Reuters

We have to talk about Miniongate.

In case you missed it: Spanish Olympian Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté confirmed earlier this week that he was being forced to change the music to his Despicable Me-themed short program — a nightmare, so close to the biggest competition of his career — due to a last-minute licensing dispute.

The internet caught wind and rallied behind Sabaté in the hopes he could don his overalls after all, in the name of whimsy and all that is fun. Yesterday, the skater posted on Instagram that Universal Studios had reconsidered and granted him the rights for this particular occasion, to which everyone responded: BANANA!

Music licensing has become an increasingly thorny issue in figure skating, which is why many older programs on YouTube are now missing their original scores. A set of American pairs skaters were hit with — and eventually settled — a lawsuit for allegedly using an unauthorized cover during the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and Team USA’s Alysa Liu had to scrap her original Lady Gaga routine earlier this season because she couldn’t get the YouTube cover rights. She debuted her revamped program in January, and I’m sure you’ll hear more about that from me later.

Before you go

Katie Uhlaender of the U.S. after finishing a women’s skeleton race heat in March. After an appeal, she was denied her chance to compete at her sixth Winter Games.

Al Bello/Getty Images

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Al Bello/Getty Images