Thousands of people gather each evening in Milan to watch the Olympic cauldron, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's intricate knot patterns, as it swells and pulsates with colored light to an original soundtrack in a spectacle that is quickly becoming a focal point of the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.

The Milan cauldron itself is dramatically suspended beneath the Arco della Pace, or Arch of Peace, erected to honor Napoleon's expulsion of the detested Austro-Hungarian rulers from Milan. The landmark Sforza Castle is perfectly framed in the background.