SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) – 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’s 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.

The country has been historically divided between the industrialized north and the underdeveloped south, with resentment flowing both ways. But Italian observers say political or cultural differences aren’t as much of an obstacle as the meteorological ones that always affect Winter Games, no matter the host.

“We’re talking about a snow Olympics.’ They’re always less of a big deal than the Summer Olympics. I don’t think the Salt Lake City Games were as big in the United States as those in Atlanta or Los Angeles,” said Candido Cannavo, the Sicilian-born former editor-in-chief of La Gazzetta dello Sport, a sports daily.

“Sure, in the north, Alpine skiing is part of the culture. But I think that in the south, if there’s an Italian to root for, there could be just as much or more interest, because of patriotism.”

Reaching out to faraway southern cities hasn’t been the only problem.

“I’ve been surprised by how few (tickets) were bought in Milan,” said Giorgio Lauretta, TOROC’s head of ticketing. “It’s close by – an hour by train. I would have expected more.”

To get people from outside the Turin area excited, organizers planned the torch relay as a nationwide promotional event.

About half the flame’s 64-day trek up and down Italy is taking place in the south, often linked to holidays or other celebrations; it was in Naples on New Year’s Eve, for example.

“It’s not true that there’s a part of Italy that’s less enthusiastic,” said Roberto Pagliuca, who is overseeing the torch relay. “We have been embraced by thousands of people along the roads and in the squares of all the cities.”

That may very well be. Still, most Italians would rather chat about the national pastime, soccer.

“I don’t know how interesting the Olympics are for us Romans. The Winter Olympics are more for people who are into winter sports – in places where there’s snow,” said Sandro Serpente, who runs a sporting goods shop a block from the Spanish Steps.

“The “real’ Olympics were the last ones, in Athens.”