How this Italian sports bar became an unofficial ‘Canada House’ at the Olympics

Milan’s Blues Canal has become an unofficial Canada House for travelling superfans that are attending Olympic events in person. Garrett Barry has the story.

MILAN – A sea of red and white flags and jerseys – and even Shania Twain karaoke – has muscled its way into a Milanese sports bar during the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Milan’s Blues Canal, a sports bar on a pedestrian street in the Navigli canal district, is no stranger to international visitors. Over the past week, it’s become an unofficial Canadian headquarters for travelling superfans that are attending Olympic events in person.

“This is an amazing place, I’ve just got a whole new room of friends here,” said Ian Howieson, a Canadian fan in Milan. “The excitement here just keeps you awake.”

The friendly takeover was organized in WhatsApp group chats and Facebook callouts, and was quickly embraced by the bar’s Italian staff and managers.

“I love this place,” said Blues Canal manager Ile Gabriele. “We like to build a place where people can just be themselves, bring something from their country.”

“These days, we have more (customers) from Canada,” he added.

The bar swells during Canadian hockey games and has even become a destination for athletes themselves.

Figure skating duo Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier stopped by earlier this week after securing a bronze medal for Canada in the ice dancing competition.

Momentum for Milan’s newest, and most unofficial, Canadian Embassy has been building since Canadian Jeremy Cummins made early contact with Blues Canal, over WhatsApp message about a month before the Games began.

Non-Canadians wandering into the bar have gotten a quick introduction to all things Canada – particularly the rules of Olympic hockey.

“I’ve seen this sport, but I’ve never understood it,” said Jeremy French, a U.K. visitor to Milan for the Olympic Games. “I’ve learned more in two hours here than I have in my whole life.”

Canada’s reputation is growing among Gabriele and her staff, who says Canadians really are nice.

“Canadian people are really amazing,” she said. “(They) never complain. Always a solution for everything.”

Some Canadians – like Jen Goodman – are getting right off their plane and heading straight to the bar.

“We have a lot of Olympic tickets, but we wanted to have one big Canadian game where we would be with a bunch of Canadian fans, just at the unofficial Canada House,” she said.

“We’re making friends, meeting people from all over the country,” Jason Goodman, Jen’s partner, added.

Some countries have officially, or quasi-officially, organized houses, with the help of their respectiveNational Olympic Committees and other sponsors.

But there’s no official “Canada House” during the 2026 Olympics, as there was in Paris in 2024.

Paola Mazzone, a Canadian in Italy for the Olympics, says people have noticed their Canadian flag on their lapel and that “only the best energy” has been shared with her.

“I’m really proud to be Canadian,” they said.