The beauty of the Winter Olympics is that you do not really have to understand the sports to enjoy them, which makes them a little like Italian opera.
It is a fortnight in which to take a sabbatical from your normal sporting diet, fall back in love with curling, marvel at biathlon and seriously consider booking that ski holiday.
They have a lexicon of their own too, which is easy to mimic with a little practice. Just remember that rad does not mean bad and that to “huck it” is a good thing.
Spanning 22,000 square kilometres of northern Italy, these Games will be the most widespread in Olympic history, extending from the bustling streets of Milan to the silent peaks of Livigno on the Swiss border, and the glamorous resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo, where a mortgage is required for an Aperol spritz. After 116 gold medals have been awarded, they conclude in Verona's Roman amphitheatre.
Two weeks of action began in a kaleidoscope of colour at the opening ceremony. Valentino Rossi drove a tram. Mariah Carey and her dancers channelled their inner Roger Milla circa Italia ’90 and Andrea Bocelli took up the baton of Luciano Pavarotti two decades ago in Turin by belting out a moving rendition of Nessun Dorma.
There were fireworks and symbolism, and a stirring mash-up of Verdi, Puccini and Rossini at this grand but crumbling old stadium, living up to its nickname as La Scala of Football.
From classical antiquity to the Renaissance, there were nods to Italy’s artistic heritage in cuisine, architecture, fashion and design, although one could not help but ask what the Romans ever did for us?
The ceremony even made a charming nod to the statistic that the average Italian makes more than 200 hand gestures a day while speaking, or 201, if you include some of the raging taxi drivers snarled up in traffic outside the San Siro.
And, of course, there was a stirring rendition of “Fratelli d’Italia”, which arguably stole the whole show.
For Team GB, Lilah Fear and Brad Hall fulfilled their responsibilities as flagbearers with gusto, doing so in Milan and Cortina respectively.
Fear has already been in action in the team figure skating alongside Lewis Gibson, while Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds are flying in the mixed doubles curling
The action is only going to intensify from here. A night of drama and entertainment culminated in the Olympic cauldron being lit by alpine skiers Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni in Milan, and Sofia Goggia in Cortina.
Now it is time for the sport to take centre stage.