Sestriere, Italy ? Using that most ancient of means for expressing private thoughts publicly – graffiti – someone scrawled OLIMPIADI INFERNALI in black spray paint on a stone wall along a road snaking through the Alps near Turin Games venues.

It’s a play on words. Olimpiadi Invernali means Winter Olympics in Italian. Olimpiadi InFERnali means “Olympics from hell.”

Yet while locals complain about inconveniences caused by construction projects or worry about Turin Olympic finances, they generally are optimistic about their city’s moment in the spotlight.

What there does appear to be an abundance of elsewhere in Italy, though, is indifference. Whether it’s the country’s pronounced north-south divide, or the simple fact that millions here would rather spend a day at the beach than bobsledding, the Feb. 10-26 Winter Games don’t seem to be big news.

Even the government official overseeing the Olympics is quick to note that he’s a “man of the sea,” like many of his 58 million countrymen.

“One of our most famous songs is ‘O Sole Mio.’ It’s not about the mountains; it’s about the sun, the sky,” culture ministry undersecretary Mario Pescante said in an interview in his Rome office. “Our mountains are near the borders up north, and those are the areas where winter sports are big. Really, only about a quarter of the country is into those sports.”

Which is his way of explaining why ticket sales in some parts of Italy have been slower than hoped, why it has taken time – and, he thinks, the torch relay – to get people interested in the games, and why state television isn’t showering viewers with segments about the Olympics the way, say, NBC’s “Today” is.

“Here in Rome, among the people I know, I don’t hear much talk of it,” said 62-year-old Carlo Villa, strolling with his wife near the Pantheon. “Maybe when the games get closer there will be more interest.”

Turin is nestled in the northwest corner of the country; on a clear day, the Alps are visible from the center of the city. Skiing is popular, certainly, but other Olympic sports such as hockey aren’t. Still, nearly half the Olympic tickets sold in Italy have been purchased in the Turin metropolitan area.

According to organizers, about 70,000 tickets were sold in Turin and the surrounding areas in 2005, compared with fewer than 3,000 in Rome – where the metropolitan area’s population is more than double Turin’s.

Overall, tickets have been more popular in some neighboring countries than spots in Italy’s south. That makes sense to Giuseppe Gattino, the Torino Organizing Committee’s head of media relations.

“Obviously, you sell more tickets for a Winter Olympics in Switzerland than in Sicily,” Gattino said. “And since we have the euro and no border checks, it’s normal to see more people coming from France than from Sicily, which is farther away.”

Indeed, Sestriere, the main site for Alpine skiing next month, is only about 10 miles from the French border – and nearly 1,000 miles from Palermo.