From Milan to Venice, Must-See Shows and Events You Can’t Miss
October 2025 promises to be a month full of cultural events and exhibitions dedicated to art and photography. From Milan to Rome, from Bergamo to Forlì, and all the way to Venice, galleries, museums, and foundations open their doors to an ever-curious audience eager to discover the works of great artists and renowned photographers.
This autumn, Italy’s exhibition scene embraces a variety of artistic languages — painting, sculpture, installations, visual arts, and photography. The exhibitions on display range from retrospectives of the great masters to the most innovative contemporary projects, offering an ideal itinerary for anyone wishing to enjoy an immersive experience in art and culture.
Forte di Bard, A Window onto the Arctic. Stefano Unterthiner
A Window onto the Arctic – Stefano Unterthiner, Forte di Bard
Forte di Bard opens the month of October with A Window onto the Arctic, a wide-ranging photographic project by nature photographer Stefano Unterthiner. His sixty photographs, taken between 2018 and 2024 in the remote Svalbard archipelago, transport viewers into an extreme and fragile world. Divided into nine sections, the images narrate the vital cycle of the Arctic seasons: polar bears hunting, reindeer crossing icy landscapes, migratory birds filling endless skies.
The exhibition is an emotional journey — a visual fresco that not only highlights the breathtaking beauty of the northern landscape but also calls attention to the urgency of environmental conservation. With this project, Unterthiner once again proves himself to be an artist capable of combining aesthetics with civic and ecological commitment.
Bird Photographer of the Year 2025 – Forte di Bard
Also at Forte di Bard, the renowned international competition Bird Photographer of the Year 2025 makes its European debut. For the first time, the Italian public will have the chance to admire the finest bird photographs taken by photographers from all over the world.
The exhibition features eight competition categories, ranging from striking portraits to dynamic shots in flight, from black-and-white compositions to urban subjects.
A showcase that blends technique, passion, and poetry, offering nature and photography enthusiasts a truly unique experience.
Bird photographer of the Year 2025
Trussardi Foundation. Chiara Fumai, The Book of Evil Spirits, 2015 single-channel video, color, sound, 26’24”: video still. Courtesy Chiara Fumai Archive.
Fata Morgana: Memories from the Invisible – Milan
In Milan, Palazzo Morando hosts from October 9 the exhibition Fata Morgana: Memories from the Invisible, a project curated by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi. Inspired by André Breton’s surrealist poem Fata Morgana, the exhibition unfolds through a path that includes painting, drawing, historical documents, and photography.
At its core lies the dialogue between art and hidden dimensions — esotericism, spiritualism, theosophy, and symbolic practices. The featured artists — mediums, visionaries, and mystics — have managed to build bridges between reality and the invisible, revealing how art can transcend the boundaries of what is seen.
Nan Goldin. This Will Not End Well – Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan
Also in Milan, starting October 11, Pirelli Hangar Bicocca presents the first major European retrospective dedicated to photographer Nan Goldin as a filmmaker. The exhibition brings together the most extensive collection of her slideshow works ever displayed, accompanied by a specially commissioned sound installation.
Goldin, one of the most influential artists on the international scene, showcases her remarkable ability to transform everyday life into an intimate and powerful narrative. Her photographs — often raw and unfiltered — have become enduring symbols of authenticity and social testimony.
Nan Goldin, Sirens, 2019-2021.
Installation view, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery. Photo: Alex Yudzon
Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation, Open Studio #4
Open Studio #4 – Arnaldo Pomodoro, Milan
From October 4 to May 31, 2026, the Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro presents the fourth edition of Open Studio, a project that explores the artist’s work through the themes of place, memory, and vision.
Arnaldo Pomodoro, an undisputed master of Italian sculpture, is portrayed through documents, models, and artworks that illustrate over fifty years of artistic research and experimentation.
Bice Lazzari and the Languages of Her Time – Milan and Venice
Another major highlight of October is Bice Lazzari. The exhibition at Palazzo Citterio, opening on October 16, brings together over 110 works by the artist, on loan from Italian and international museums such as Ca’ Pesaro in Venice and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
The exhibition traces her entire career — from mural art to naval decorations, up to the graphic and pictorial works that established her as a unique figure in the artistic landscape of the twentieth century.
Palazzo Citterio, Bice Lazzari e the languages of her time
Thinking Like a Mountain #5 – GAMeC, Bergamo
The fifth edition of La Biennale delle Orobie brings contemporary art to the Bergamo region. International artists such as Abraham Cruzvillegas, Gaia Fugazza, and Pedro Vaz engage in dialogue with local communities through a series of site-specific installations.
An exhibition that unites nature, landscape, and collective creativity, inviting visitors to reflect on the deep connection between art and the environment.
Thinking like a mountain, Atelier dell’Errore, Psychic Anepe The Tenth, 2025
Mani-Fattura: The Ceramics of Lucio Fontana – Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
In Venice, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents the first museum exhibition entirely dedicated to Lucio Fontana’s ceramics. Seventy years of experimentation are encapsulated in around 70 works, many of which have never been exhibited before.
Known to the public for his iconic “cuts” on canvas, Fontana emerges here as a multifaceted artist — one capable of constant reinvention and of exploring new material languages. This exhibition is a must-see for anyone wishing to discover a lesser-known side of his remarkable artistic journey.
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Lucio Fontana, Esa's portrait, 1953.
Courtesy private collection
Fortuny Museum, Antonio Beato, Return to Venice
Antonio Beato. Return to Venice – Museo Fortuny, Venice
The Museo Fortuny dedicates an exhibition to photographer Antonio Beato and his brother Felice, pioneers of 19th-century photo reportage. From October 15 to January 12, the exhibition traces their travels through Egypt and the Mediterranean, featuring historical maps and extraordinary vintage photographs.
A fascinating dialogue unfolds with the images of contemporary photographers such as Lee Miller, as well as with Mariano Fortuny’s creative legacy. This symbolic “return” links Beato’s past to the city of Venice, a bridge between history and modern vision.
Rodney Smith. Between Reality and Surrealism – Rovigo
At Palazzo Roverella, a major retrospective celebrates New York photographer Rodney Smith. Over a hundred photographs reveal his elegant, surreal style — a unique vision capable of transforming everyday life into visual poetry.
Palazzo Roverella, Rodney Smith, Men with boxes on head,
Brunswick, GA, 2001
Villa Manin, Boundaries from Gauguin to Hopper
Boundaries from Gauguin to Hopper – Villa Manin, Passariano (UD)
The exhibition explores the concept of boundaries in painting between the 19th and 20th centuries. Featuring more than 120 works by major artists — from Gauguin to Hopper — it interprets the theme as a physical, inner, and spiritual space.
A journey that offers profound reflections on identity and landscape.
Stefano Arienti. Herbaceous Cultivations – Parma
Palazzo Marchi hosts, from October 19, a retrospective dedicated to Stefano Arienti. His manipulated books become true works of art through perforations, folds, and erasures — gestures that transform printed pages into new visual forms.
The exhibition highlights the regenerative essence of Arienti’s artistic practice.
Palazzo Marchi, Stefano Arienti, Herbaceous Cultivations
Letizia Battaglia. The Work 1970–2020 – Forlì
At the Museo Civico San Domenico, from October 18, an exhibition celebrates the extraordinary career of Letizia Battaglia, one of Italy’s most important photographers. More than 200 photographs retrace fifty years of civic engagement and social storytelling, bearing witness to the courage and humanity of an artist who marked the history of photojournalism.
San Domenico Civic Museum, Letizia Battaglia, Quartiere Cala.
La bambina con il pallone (1980; Palermo)
©Letizia Battaglia, courtesy of the Letizia Battaglia Archive.
18th Quadriennale d’Arte. Fantastica – Rome
Italy’s leading exhibition dedicated to contemporary Italian art returns to Palazzo delle Esposizioni with more than 180 works by 54 artists, including 16 under 35. Divided into five chapters, the show offers an updated narrative of the Italian art scene after the 2000s, between imagination, identity, and new creative directions.
1+1. Relational Art – MAXXI, Rome
From October 29, the MAXXI Museum hosts a major retrospective curated by Nicolas Bourriaud on the Relational Art movement. The exhibition revisits the 1990s practices rooted in conviviality, interaction, and community, featuring artists such as Vanessa Beecroft, Maurizio Cattelan, and Rirkrit Tiravanija.
Gillian Wearing, Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say.
From the left: MY GRIP ON LIFE IS RATHER LOOSE!, MORE LOVE!, I’M DESPERATE, WORK TOWARDS WORLD PEACE, 1992 – 3 © Gillian Wearing,
courtesy Maureen Paley, London, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York and Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Autumn in Italy promises a vibrant cultural season. From Venice to Rome, from Bergamo to Bologna, each city offers exhibitions that create dialogue between past and present, painting and photography, tradition and experimentation — a journey through the living landscape of Italian creativity.
