FLORENCE

“Rothko in Florence”, Palazzo Strozzi & More 

Until August 23rd

One of Italy’s most significant Mark Rothko retrospectives, this exhibition spans three iconic Florence venues: Palazzo Strozzi, the Michelangelo-designed Biblioteca Laurenziana, and Museo di San Marco—where Rothko’s work sits in dialogue with Beato Angelico’s frescoes. Curated by Christopher Rothko and Elena Geuna, the show traces the artist’s lifelong fascination with Renaissance art, featuring masterpieces from the 1930s to 1970, including large-scale paintings making their Italian debut.

Calcio Storico, Piazza Santa Croce  

June 13th, 14th, and 24th

Calcio Storico Fiorentino is a gruesome, historical sport—like a combination of football, rugby, and wrestling—played between Florence’s four historic districts: i Bianchi (Santo Spirito), gli Azzurri (Santa Croce), i Verdi (San Giovanni/Duomo), and i Rossi (Santa Maria Novella). Dressed in 16th-century costumes, the players face off in a sand-filled Piazza Santa Croce with crowds just as intense. The grand finale takes place on June  24th (Festa di San Giovanni), followed by a fireworks display from Piazzale Michelangelo.

Festa della Rificolona, Citywide

September 7th

This traditional family festival lights up the city with colorful paper lanterns. A procession departs from Impruneta and winds through the city center to Piazza Santissima Annunziata, where the celebration continues with lantern blessings, a festive contest, and traditional songs.

“Firenze Rocks 2026”, Visarno Arena

From June 12th to 14th

Florence’s high-energy outdoor music event returns to Cascine Park. The weekend lineup features live sets from Lenny Kravitz, Robbie Williams, and iconic post-punk titans The Cure, plus more.

“Estate Fiesolana 2026”, Teatro Romano, Fiesole 

From June 8th to September 12th

In the hills overlooking Florence, the 79th edition of this outdoor festival takes place in a 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater. The summer schedule runs nightly, with a rotating mix of music, live theater, classical ballet, and jazz ensembles utilizing the ancient stone steps as a natural acoustic backdrop. 

“Georg Baselitz – Avanti!”, Museo Novecento

Until September 13th

This institutional exhibition marks the first large-scale Italian show to focus explicitly on the legendary German artist’s graphic and printmaking practice. Spanning three floors, the exhibition pulls together 170 works—including raw prints, paintings, and monumental sculptures—spotlighting his famous inverted compositions alongside archival materials that track his connection to Florence, where he lived in 1965 studying the anti-classical works of Italian Mannerists like Rosso Fiorentino.

“Firenze Déco: Atmospheres of the 1920s”, Palazzo Medici Riccardi

Until August 25th

Filling the historic rooms of the Medici palace, the exhibition showcases Florence’s role in the spread of Art Déco across Europe via period ceramics, high-end furnishings, and jewelry alongside early Florentine creations from Salvatore Ferragamo and Gucci.

ROME

“Tragicomica. Prospettive sull’arte italiana dal secondo Novecento a oggi”, MAXXI

Until September 20th

If you’re bored with the traditional art canon, this is the exhibition for you, with over 300 works by 130 Italian heavyweights—from mid-century masters like Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni to modern tricksters like Maurizio Cattelan—that highlight how Italy has often used dark humor and irony to cope with tragedy. The fast-paced trip through 80 postwar years of art, theater, and cinema proves that sometimes the only way to deal with history is to laugh at it.

“Roma Summer Fest 2026”, Auditorium Parco della Musica

From June 13th to September 15th

Rome’s premier summer concert series takes over the open-air Cavea designed by Renzo Piano. Running for three months, the festival strips away basic arena packaging for high-caliber solo nights spanning international and Italian acts. The 2026 lineup features live sets from John Legend, Diana Krall, Ludovico Einaudi, Pat Metheny, and Ben Harper, culminating in mid-September with the return of “Dissonanze”, the city’s landmark electronic music and contemporary culture festival.

“Festival des Cabanes”, Villa Medici

Until September 28th

Every summer, the French Academy transforms its historic Renaissance gardens into a showroom or architectural experimentation. This fifth edition maps out six completely new, site-specific eco-cabins—scattered across the villa’s 200-year-old pine groves and laurel hedges—built from sustainable wood, steel, and recycled materials by international design teams.

“Hokusai”, Palazzo Bonaparte

Until June 29th

The largest Italian retrospective dedicated to Katsushika Hokusai. Gathering over 200 prints and masterworks on rare loan from the National Museum in Krakow, the rooms display his legendary Great Wave off Kanagawa and the complete Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. The layout shows exactly how his radical perspectives disrupted European Impressionism.

“Mario Schifano”, Palazzo Esposizioni Roma

Until July 12th

Skip the overly academic deep dives. This dynamic retrospective pays tribute to Italy’s ultimate Pop Art pioneer, Mario Schifano, tracking how he fast-tracked Italian painting into the media age. The galleries are packed with his wildly colorful canvases that borrow directly from corporate logos, street advertising, and television static.

“Rock in Roma 2026”, Ippodromo delle Capannelle

From June 9th to July 18th

The capital’s loudest outdoor music event sets up its stages at the Capannelle racetrack on the city’s edge. The festival delivers a lineup dedicated to rock, metal, and alternative heavyweights, and this summer’s schedule locks in dates for live performances from Marilyn Manson, Caparezza, Subsonica, and more.

“Open-Air Cinema: Il Cinema in Piazza”, Citywide

Until July 12th

This open-air film festival sets up three major public screens across the city: Piazza San Cosimato (Trastevere), Parco della Cervelletta (Tor Sapienza), and Parco di Monte Ciocci (Valle Aurelia). Screenings are entirely free and run nightly, showing a mix of international cult classics, restored prints, and contemporary releases in their original languages with subtitles. For a paid, curated alternative, Nanni Moretti’s historic Cinema Nuovo Sacher runs its signature courtyard summer arena through July 31st, focusing entirely on the past year’s best global arthouse films.

MILAN

“I Macchiaioli”, Palazzo Reale 

Until July 5th

Milan’s first-ever retrospective of the Macchiaioli, the 19th-century painters who rejected academic tradition and pioneered modern Italian painting by focusing on patches (macchie) of color and light and En Plein Air (Outdoor Painting)—predating French Impressionism. Over 100 works by Fattori, Lega, and Signorini capture the movement’s bold brushwork and its ties to the Risorgimento, with a fresh, in-depth look at this pivotal moment in art history, part of Milan Cortina 2026’s cultural program.

“Il Senso della Neve: Peoples, Ancient Art, and Contemporary Visions”, MUDEC

Until June 28th

A free, multidisciplinary exhibition exploring snow as both a natural phenomenon and a cultural force, Il Senso della Neve brings together over 150 works—from ancient artifacts and ethnographic objects to modern and contemporary art—tracing how snow has shaped scientific inquiry, artistic imagination, and human life from Arctic cultures to today’s climate debates.

“Chiharu Shiota, The Moment the Snow Melts”, MUDEC

Until June 28th

This free, site-specific installation transforms MUDEC’s agorà into a suspended snowy landscape of threads, paper, and floating names. Curated by Sara Rizzo, the work invites visitors to reflect on presence, absence, and memory, offering a quiet, contemplative space where human connections—past and fleeting—are made visible.

“I-Days Milano Coca-Cola”, SNAI San Siro & La Maura Hippodromes

From June 25th to September 10th

One of Italy’s largest summer music events returns to Milan’s racing grounds. The 2026 lineup features live sets from Maroon 5, Florence + The Machine, Foo Fighters, System Of A Down, David Guetta, and A$AP Rocky. 

“Estate al Castello 2026”, Castello Sforzesco (Cortile delle Armi)

From June 12th to September 9th

Milan’s live summer festival returns for its 14th edition, transforming the central courtyard of the historic Sforza Castle into an arena. Curated by Federico Russo, the 70-event program packs the summer with live music, stand-up comedy, theater, and talk panels, featuring artists like Carmen Consoli, Alex Britti, and Angélique Kidjo alongside live true-crime podcasts by Stefano Nazzi. Select performance nights grant ticket holders rare, free evening access to the castle’s museum rooms, and throughout August (1st–25th), there is a nightly lineup of free, open-air arthouse and classic cinema screenings.

“OVER, UNDER AND IN BETWEEN. Mona Hatoum”, Fondazione Prada

Until November 9th

Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum takes over the industrial rooms of Fondazione Prada’s Cisterna with three site-specific installations designed to make instability a physical experience. Visitors navigate through a delicate overhead spider web made of hand-blown glass spheres, a shifting floor map of the world constructed from 30,000 loose, rolling red glass balls, and a kinetic, nine-meter-high metal grid that groans and shakes as it moves between collapse and reconstruction. It’s a highly visceral exploration of human vulnerability.

“Giovanni Gastel. Rewind”, Palazzo Citterio

Until July 26th

This retrospective honors the late Milanese fashion photographer—grandson of Luchino Visconti—with a display of over 250 images spanning his self-taught career. The rooms track his early 1990s digital post-production experiments alongside a first-time showcase of his personal poetry and notes, revealing the creative process behind his highly polished, painting-inspired imagery.

“Anselm Kiefer: The Women Alchemists”, Palazzo Reale

Until September 27th

Part of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics cultural program, this site-specific takeover invades the iconic Sala delle Cariatidi, a hall intentionally left with the marks of its 1943 bombing. Curated by Gabriella Belli, the exhibition presents over 40 monumental, heavily textured canvases dedicated to forgotten female alchemists and scientists like Caterina Sforza and Mary the Jewess.

VENICE

“In Minor Keys by Koyo Kouoh”; 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Giardini, Arsenale & more across the city

Until November 22nd

The 61st Venice Biennale takes over the Giardini, Arsenale, and venues across the city with its main exhibition, In Minor Keys. Originally conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh and completed by her team, the project swaps loud, monumental statements for personal stories and unexpected global connections. This year’s massive lineup features 110 artists alongside 100 national pavilions—including debuts from Vietnam, Qatar, and Sierra Leone.

83rd Venice International Film Festival, Lido

From September 2nd to 12th 

Held annually at the Lido, the Venice Film Festival is the oldest and one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Founded in 1932, the festival is now in its 83rd edition, drawing A-list directors, actors, and critics to the lagoon. While the red carpet grabs headlines, the festival maintains a balance between glamor and serious film culture, with a strong focus on auteur cinema and new talent.

“Helter Skelter”, Fondazione Prada

Until November 23rd 

This exhibition at Ca’ Corner della Regina pairs two major American image-raiders, Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince, to scavenge through the grit of American pop culture. Pulling from pulp novels, Instagram, YouTube, and celebrity news, they rip apart and reassemble the dark side of the American psyche. Spanning two floors, the show packs in over 50 confrontational photographs, installations, and films that probe racial violence, white masculinity, and mass-media obsession. Note: Contains explicit content, violence, and nudity.

“Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector”, Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Until October 19th

A historical deep-dive that skips her well-known Venetian years to focus entirely on her origins. Staged in her former canal-side home, the exhibition reconstructs her brief but pivotal time in 1930s London running her first gallery, Guggenheim Jeune. It brings together the works, letters, and archival materials that launched her career as a patron, showing how she first began championing the European avant-garde. The show is debuting in Venice and will run in London and NYC afterwards.

La Festa del Redentore, Citywide

From July 17th to 19th

For over 400 years, Venetians have celebrated the end of the devastating 1575 plague with this vibrant, citywide festival. Over three days, Venice comes alive with gondola regattas, live music, and a spectacular fireworks show that lights up the lagoon in a blaze of color.

La Regata Storica, Grand Canal 

September 6th 

Held annually on the first Sunday in September, the Regata Storica begins with a parade of 16th-century-style vessels, complete with costumed oarsmen, before shifting to the competitive regattas—most notably the race of the gondolini rowed by Venice’s most skilled gondoliers. Though it draws crowds of visitors, the Regata remains a deeply local tradition; Venetians line the canal to cheer on neighborhood rowers and celebrate their city’s centuries-old connection to the water.

“1948-1958 Il vetro di Murano e la Biennale di Venezia”, Le Stanze del Vetro

Until November 22nd

The third iteration of this exhibition covers the post-WWII decade, when Murano glass transitioned from traditional craft into high design. Staged on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the retrospective charts the mid-century economic boom across five Venice Biennale editions. The rooms gather period documents alongside historic pieces from legendary furnaces like Venini and Barovier & Toso, spotlighting works by Fulvio Bianconi, Ercole Barovier, and spatialist artist Vinicio Vianello.

20th Edition of the Biennale Danza, Citywide 

From July 17th to August 1st

For two weeks, Venice becomes a physical workshop under the direction of British choreographer Wayne McGregor. The 20th International Festival of Contemporary Dance features daily performances from international soloists and global companies—bringing the same caliber of movement McGregor regularly stages for the New York City Ballet and the Paris Opéra. Alongside these headliners, the daily schedule integrates new pieces developed on-site by the emerging dancers of the Biennale College residency.

54th Edition of the Biennale Teatro, Citywide

From June 7th to June 21st

Actor Willem Dafoe steps in to direct this year’s international theater lineup, drawing directly on his own roots in legendary avant-garde spaces like New York’s The Wooster Group and Amsterdam’s Mickery Theatre. The daily program of performances by some of the most prominent, boundary-pushing figures in contemporary theater is accompanied by original productions written and staged on-site by the young directors and playwrights of the Biennale College training residency.

“Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy”, Gallerie dell’Accademia

Until October 19th

Marking the first time the Accademia has dedicated a solo exhibition to a living female artist, this major retrospective is held across both the temporary galleries and the permanent collection rooms. The show bypasses simple documentation to focus on the active relationship between the viewer, the artist, and physical objects, featuring raw performance archives, historical pieces, and interactive installations that explore endurance and energy.

“Lorna Simpson: Third Person”, Punta della Dogana (Pinault Collection)

Until November 22nd

The first comprehensive European retrospective dedicated entirely to the North American artist’s painting practice over the last decade. Moving away from her earlier text-and-photo works, the exhibition fills the spaces of Punta della Dogana with large-scale, dark-hued paintings that explore race, collective memory, and representation, running alongside a parallel solo exhibition by Brazilian performance artist Paulo Nazareth.

BOLOGNA

“Banksy Archive 01”, Palazzo Fava

Until August 2nd

This historical dive skips the commercial hype to look at where the street artist actually came from. Banksy Archive 01 fills the rooms of Palazzo Fava with over 300 original documents, archival photos, and early works tracking the underground 1990s Bristol scene. Instead of just highlighting the famous stencils, the exhibition frames Banksy alongside the local peers and graffiti pioneers—like Robert Del Naja and Nick Walker—who helped build the collaborative subculture that birthed pieces like Balloon Girl.

TURIN

“Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles”, MAO – Museum of Oriental Art 

Until June 28th

The Japanese artist’s traveling monograph marks the first time the retrospective is hosted inside an Asian art museum. The exhibition brings together Shiota’s entire body of work—spanning raw drawings, scale sculptures, and archive photographs—but particularly her signature monumental installations. Immersive rooms are completely overtaken by dense webs of woven red and black threads that trap everyday objects like keys, dresses, and chairs to create a highly sensory exploration of memory, distance, and existential anxiety.

PALERMO

Festino di Santa Rosalia, Citywide 

July 14th

On the night of July 14th, Palermo smells of boiled octopus, sfincione, garlic snails, and sliced watermelon. This is the Festino, a huge citywide procession that has wound its way from the Norman Palace down to the sea every summer since 1625, when Santa Rosalia—the beloved Santuzza—miraculously saved the city from the plague. It’s a loud, beautiful event of fireworks and music against Baroque backdrops, celebrating the saint who remains the city’s most fiercely adored protector.

GENOVA

“Mimmo Rotella: 1945 – 2005”, Palazzo Ducale

Until September 13th

Twenty years after his death, this major retrospective tracks over 60 years of Mimmo Rotella’s career and shows his complete creative trajectory, including, of course, his famous décollages—torn street posters scavenged from urban walls. Over 100 works from international museums fill the palace, tracing his post-WWII abstract experiments, his subversion of 1960s consumer culture, and his late-career media deconstructions.

TREVISO

“Nino Springolo”, Luigi Bailo Museum

Until November 1st

This retrospective marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of Veneto’s most reclusive early 20th-century painters. Rejecting the political noise and artistic trends of his era, Springolo worked with obsessive slowness, producing just five or six pieces a year. The exhibition gathers 100 works from private and public collections, from his Post-Impressionist color experiments and Divisionism to raw, Cézanne-inspired landscapes. 

LUCCA

Lucca Summer Festival 

From June 24th to 29th 

Every summer, Lucca becomes an open-air stage for global music icons. While the festival takes over the historic town center with an intimate stage in the main piazza, the biggest headliners—like David Byrne, Katy Perry, John Legend, and Ludovico Einaudi—perform on a grand scale just outside the historic center, set against the magnificent backdrop of the city’s famed Renaissance walls.

CALABRIA 

Merano Wine Festival Calabria: Essenza del Sud, Cirò

From June 5th to 8th

One of northern Italy’s most prestigious wine institutions in Merano, Trentino-Alto Adige, heads south for a four-day takeover of Calabria’s Ionian coast. The festival splits its time between Cirò Superiore for open-air street tastings and Borgo Saverona in Cirò Marina. The focus is entirely on regional revival: independent winemakers pour natural Gaglioppo and Magliocco from ancient clay soils alongside local chefs serving contemporary takes on Calabrese staples, like fried potato cuddruriaddri, local black pig, and ‘nduja focaccia finished with bergamot oil.

MONOPOLI 

PhEST, Citywide

August 7th to November 1st

The 11th edition of this festival turns the entire city into a gallery for contemporary photography, cinema, and music, bringing together global artists to showcase work that focuses on overlapping stories from the Mediterranean, the Balkans, Africa, and the Middle East. Visitors can expect a lineup of outdoor photo exhibitions and multimedia installations that explore how technology and modern life are changing the way we see the world.

PERUGIA

Umbria Jazz

From July 3rd to 12th 

What began in 1973 as a roaming concert series has become Italy’s most iconic jazz celebration, drawing global legends (Jon Batiste, Sting) and emerging voices alike. For 10 days, Perugia’s medieval streets, hidden theaters, and open piazzas pulse with brass, bass, and boundless energy. Expect world-class music, unexpected late-night jam sessions, and afternoon aperitivos set to saxophone solos.

LAKE COMO

“Devota. Art and the Sacred, Territory and Community,” Various Locations Around the Lake

Until July 11th

Put on by Bellano Arte Cultura, “Devota” takes the ancient Italian tradition of the ex-voto—tokens left in church for grace received—and scatters it across the landscape of Lake Como. Modern and contemporary works, including pieces by Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, are tucked into a trail of mountain paths, woods, and historic lakeside churches, ending at the Sanctuary of Lezzeno, to create an experience that’s both an art exhibition and pilgrimage through the territory.

FERRARA

“Andy Warhol: Ladies and Gentlemen”, Palazzo dei Diamanti

Until July 19th

Fifty years after Warhol first brought his landmark Ladies and Gentlemen series to Ferrara, the city’s diamond-faceted palace hosts a major follow-up. Supported by the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, this exhibition features over 150 works—including never-before-seen acrylics, drawings, and original Polaroids. The show is defined by his raw, world-premiere portraits of anonymous Black and Latin American drag queens from the 1970s New York underground, alongside legendary silkscreens of Marilyn, Mao, and Grace Jones. 

SPOLETO

“Two Worlds Festival”, Citywide

From June 26th to July 12th

Founded in 1958 to bridge American and European culture, this legendary festival takes over the entire Umbrian hill town for over two weeks of elite performing arts. Expect world-class opera, avant-garde theater, and contemporary dance on magnificent stages from the steps of the majestic Piazza Duomo to an ancient Roman theater. 

MARTINA FRANCA (PUGLIA)

“Festival della Valle d’Itria”, Citywide

From July 14th to August 2nd

The 52nd edition of this festival dedicates itself entirely to rare, overlooked Baroque operas and bel canto masterpieces. Performances take place outdoors under the stars in the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale and inside the historic masserie scattered across the trulli-filled valley.