2026 is shaping up to be a spectacular year for art, architecture, and culture in Italy. Across the peninsula, museums and foundations are preparing extraordinary art exhibitions that transcend disciplines—inviting visitors to explore space, form, history, and identity through the eyes of the world’s greatest artists.
Whether you’re an art lover, an art student, or simply a curious traveller, this is the year to see Italy’s creativity unfold.
Milan: Contemporary Icons & Grand Traditions
Milan continues to set the pace for Italian contemporary culture, balancing bold experimentation with elegant tradition. Its cutting-edge museums and historic palaces offer a panorama of art that spans centuries and styles.
Palazzo Reale – Anselm Kiefer. Le Alchimiste
7 February – 27 September 2026
In the grand Sala delle Cariatidi—once scarred by wartime bombing—the visionary German painter Anselm Kiefer will unveil monumental new canvases celebrating forgotten female alchemists. Known for his textured, symbolic works delving into history and myth, Kiefer transforms memory into matter, mingling ash, lead, and gold into haunting beauty.
Fondazione Prada – Mona Hatoum. Over, Under and In Between
29 January – 9 November 2026
London-based Lebanese artist Mona Hatoum, celebrated for exploring themes of exile and fragility, takes over the industrial Cisterna space with an immersive installation. Expect an elegant play of webs, grids, and shadows that turns instability into art—a meditation on the uncertain geometry of our times.
Pirelli HangarBicocca – Luciano Fabro
8 October 2026 – 21 February 2027
Luciano Fabro, a leading figure of the movement known as Arte Povera, dreamed of giving form to ideas through “poor” materials like glass, cloth, and stone. This major retrospective—the first of its kind in Italy since his death—traces Fabro’s poetic experiments that redefined sculpture and space in postwar Europe.
Museo Poldi Pezzoli – Meraviglie del Grand Tour
30 January – 4 May 2026
Travel back to the 18th century with Meraviglie del Grand Tour, a sumptuous exhibition devoted to the golden age of travel. Paintings by Giovanni Paolo Pannini, rare Roman relics, and an original short film by Ferzan Özpetek illuminate the wonders that once enchanted aristocratic travelers—reminding us that Italy has always been a destination for transformation.
Rome: Baroque Power & Postwar Experimentation
Eternal, magnetic, and endlessly theatrical, Rome celebrates both its golden Baroque past and its rebellious twentieth-century spirit in 2026.
Palazzo Esposizioni – Mario Schifano
March – July 2026
An icon of Italian modernity, Mario Schifano captured the energy of 1960s Rome through screens, neon, and dynamic brushwork. This ambitious retrospective follows his journey from Pop-inflected experiments to multimedia explorations—a portrait of Italy’s transition into the age of images.
Palazzo Barberini – Bernini e i Barberini
12 February – 14 June 2026
At the heart of Baroque splendor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the sculptor of ecstasy and drama, shaped the Rome we know today. This grand exhibition revisits his partnership with Pope Urban VIII Barberini, showing how power, faith, and art merged into one dazzling vision that still defines the Eternal City.
Florence: Fiery Souls, Ocean Depths & Renaissance Light
Florence celebrates 2026 with art exhibitions that unite Renaissance brilliance, oceanic wonder, and the indomitable spirit of Frida Kahlo.
Cattedrale dell’Immagine – Frida Kahlo: Emotion Exhibition
Until 29 March 2026
In the deconsecrated church of Santo Stefano al Ponte, the spirit of Frida Kahlo comes alive in an immersive spectacle of light, sound, and emotion. The experience unfolds through mirrored spaces and digital installations, leading visitors into the artist’s vibrant imagination and turbulent life.
Villa Bardini – Oceani. David Doubilet
Until 12 April 2026
At Villa Bardini, National Geographic presents the first Italian retrospective of legendary underwater photographer David Doubilet. Through more than eighty spellbinding images, Doubilet guides visitors on an odyssey from the Caribbean to Antarctica, capturing the fragile beauty of marine ecosystems with his groundbreaking over/under technique.
Palazzo Strozzi – Rothko a Firenze
14 March – 23 August 2026
For the first time in Italy, a sweeping exhibition dedicated to Mark Rothko reveals the timeless dialogue between his glowing fields of color and the serene balance of Renaissance art. The show spreads across the Renaissance palace and two sacred spaces—Michelangelo’s Biblioteca Laurenziana and the Museum of San Marco—illuminating how Rothko’s meditations on emotion and spirituality resonate in Florence’s golden light.
Venice: Women, Performance & the Biennale
Always a stage for innovation and beauty, Venice dedicates 2026 to women who redefined art and experience.
Collezione Peggy Guggenheim – Peggy Guggenheim a Londra
25 April – 19 October 2026
Long before Venice became her home, Peggy Guggenheim thrilled London with her first gallery, Guggenheim Jeune. This exhibition recounts the birth of her visionary collection, highlighting her friendships with Marcel Duchamp and Samuel Beckett, and revealing how her fearless spirit shaped the course of modern art.
Gallerie dell’Accademia – Marina Abramović. Transforming Energy
6 May – 19 October 2026
For her 80th birthday, performance art pioneer Marina Abramović transforms Venice’s most revered museum into a space of spiritual encounter. The Serbian-born artist, famed for testing the limits of body and endurance, stages a bold dialogue between her performances and the Renaissance masters who immortalized humanity itself.
Biennale di Venezia – 61st International Art Exhibition
9 May – 22 November 2026
Titled In Minor Keys, the 2026 Venice Biennale promises a poetic and political journey through contemporary art and new voices from around the globe. Expect a profound reflection on fragility, resilience, and the world’s shared rhythms—set against Venice’s own shimmering lagoon.
Beyond the Big Cities: Hidden Gems Across Italy
Beyond the major capitals, 2026 invites travelers off the beaten path to discover art and beauty from Bergamo to Perugia, Ferrara to Genova.
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo – TAROCCHI. Le origini, le carte, la fortuna
27 February – 2 June 2026
For the first time in over a century, the 74 Colleoni tarot cards are reunited—an exquisite journey through mysticism and art spanning seven centuries of imagination, symbolism, and esoteric charm.
Museo Civico San Domenico, Forlì – Barocco. Il gran teatro delle idee
21 February – 28 June 2026
From Caravaggio’s dramatic chiaroscuro to the exuberant grandeur of European courts, this sweeping exhibition maps the evolution of Baroque art as the “Great Theatre of Ideas,” blending science, faith, and illusion in spectacular fashion.
Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia – Giotto e San Francesco
14 March – 14 June 2026
In the heart of Umbria, a historic exhibition marks 800 years since the death of Saint Francis of Assisi. It tells how Giotto, often called the father of European painting, transformed spiritual devotion into tender human emotion—ushering in the dawn of modern art.
Palazzo Ducale, Genova – Van Dyck l’Europeo
20 March – 19 July 2026
A dazzling celebration of Anthony van Dyck, the Flemish prodigy who became a European cosmopolitan. From Antwerp to Genoa to London, his elegant portraits defined an age of refinement and power.
Palazzo Roverella, Rovigo – Zandomeneghi e Degas. Impressionismo tra Firenze e Parigi
27 February – 28 June 2026
Federico Zandomeneghi, an Italian painter who joined Edgar Degas among the Parisian Impressionists, finally receives long-overdue recognition. Their shared scenes of dances, cafés, and everyday life reveal the luminous world of Impressionism seen through both Italian and French eyes.
Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara – Andy Warhol. Ladies and Gentlemen
14 March – 19 July 2026
Fifty years later, Andy Warhol’s groundbreaking series returns to Ferrara. His portraits of drag performers and Black models—vivid, provocative, and full of attitude—speak more powerfully than ever about visibility, identity, and fame.
Study Italian While Experiencing Art in Italy
2026 isn’t just a year to see art—it’s a year to live it. Combine your travels with an Italian language course through Studiainitalia, and immerse yourself in the country’s creative pulse.
Learn the language of beauty in the morning, then spend your afternoons exploring masterpieces in the world’s greatest open-air museum: Italy itself.
Buon italiano a tutti!
For more events around Italy, visit italia.it/en/italy/things-to-do/events
