The
1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the
VII Olympic Winter Games (French: Les
VIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) (Italian:
VII Giochi olimpici invernali), was a winter
multi-sport event celebrated in
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. This celebration of the Games was held from 26 January to 5 February 1956. Cortina, which had originally been awarded the
1944 Winter Olympics, beat out
Montreal,
Colorado Springs and
Lake Placid for the right to host the 1956 Games. The Cortina Games were unique in that many of the venues were within walking distance of each other. The organising committee received financial support from the Italian government for infrastructure improvements, but the rest of the costs for the Games had to be privately financed. Consequently, the organising committee was the first to rely heavily on corporate sponsorship for funding.