The most beautiful exhibitions not to be missed in Tuscany
All the exhibitions to mark in your diary
With its iconic hills, breathtaking landscapes, and timeless cities of art, Tuscany remains one of Italy’s most vibrant cultural destinations. The exhibition calendar comes alive with a rich program of shows ranging from contemporary art to major retrospectives dedicated to the leading figures of the 20th century and today.
From Florence to Siena, passing through Prato and other gems of the region, each exhibition offers an opportunity to immerse yourself in stories, visions, and artistic languages that engage and inspire.
Looking for the best exhibitions in Florence? Click here!
Rothko in Florence at Palazzo Strozzi (until August 23)
In Florence, Palazzo Strozzi is hosting through August 23 one of the most important exhibitions in Italy dedicated to Mark Rothko. Curated by his son Christopher Rothko together with Elena Geuna, the exhibition offers a comprehensive chronological overview spanning the artist’s entire career, from the 1930s to the 1960s. On display are over 70 works, drawn from prestigious private collections and major international museums, which allow visitors to trace the evolution of Rothko’s pictorial language. The exhibition also explores a lesser-known yet fascinating aspect: the dialogue between his artistic exploration and the tradition of the Florentine Renaissance, in a comparison that enriches the interpretation of his famous fields of color.
Rothko a Firenze, Palazzo Strozzi (photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio)Baselitz. AVANTI! at the Museo Novecento in Florence (until September 13)
The Museo Novecento in Florence is hosting Baselitz. AVANTI!, a major exhibition dedicated to Georg Baselitz, who recently passed away and was one of the most influential figures in contemporary art. Organized in collaboration with the artist’s studio, the exhibition marks the first large-scale project in Italy to focus on a central yet often overlooked aspect of his work: printmaking. Spread across the museum’s three floors, the exhibition brings together approximately 170 works, including prints, paintings, and sculptures, offering a comprehensive and in-depth overview of over sixty years of artistic activity. The exhibition highlights the richness of the themes addressed by Baselitz and reaffirms his conception of art as a constantly evolving practice: a language made up of transformations, tensions, and unconventional gestures, far removed from any notion of reassuring balance.
BASELITZ. AVANTI! (2026), Courtesy Museo Novecento and the artist (ph. Elisa Norcini)Toulouse-Lautrec. A Journey Through Belle Époque Paris at the Museo degli Innocenti in Florence (until June 7)
The Museo degli Innocenti in Florence opens its doors to a fascinating journey through late 19th-century Paris with a special exhibition dedicated to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the undisputed genius of the Belle Époque. Over 170 works by the French artist—from Hamburg and Albi, Lautrec’s hometown—will be on display alongside period furnishings, artifacts, and materials, as well as works by other major contemporary figures. An immersive experience that transports visitors to the heart of fin-de-siècle Montmartre, amid vibrantly colored posters, café-concerts, and the frenetic atmosphere of Parisian nightlife. The exhibition, produced and organized by Arthemisia in collaboration with the Museo degli Innocenti, Cristoforo, the Ernst Barlach Museumsgesellschaft Hamburg, and BridgeconsultingPro, is curated by Dr. Jürgen Doppelstein, with Gabriele Accornero serving as project manager for the collection.
©Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane AvrilPiero Macola. Landscapes of Life at Palazzo Blu in Pisa (until November 8)
Palazzo Blu is hosting Piero Macola. Landscapes of Life, an exhibition dedicated to the cartoonist Piero Macola, on view through November 8 and curated by Giorgio Bacci. The exhibition traces over twenty years of work through original panels, sketches, and preparatory materials, highlighting a style that combines documentation, direct experience, and imagination. The exhibition features some of the artist’s most significant works, including the previously unpublished La Vallée heureuse (2026), presented here for the first time. At its core are themes such as memory, identity, and marginality, told through a language suspended between reality and fiction. The exhibition is rounded out by a selection of recent illustrations, reflecting the constant dialogue between comics and illustration in Macola’s practice.
Luigi Ghirri. Polaroid '79–'83 at the Centro Pecci in Prato (until May 10)
The Centro Pecci in Prato is hosting the first major exhibition in Italy dedicated to the instant photography of Luigi Ghirri. Curated by Chiara Agradi and Stefano Collicelli Cagol, in collaboration with the Luigi Ghirri Foundation, the exhibition offers a fresh perspective on the photographer’s work. On display are over 100 Polaroids taken between 1979 and 1983, including still lifes, landscapes, and portraits, as well as rare 20x24-inch prints. What emerges is a more intimate and experimental Ghirri, capable of using the instant medium as a space for exploration. The exhibition also draws a connection between immediate analog photography and today’s digital culture, highlighting how Ghirri in some ways anticipated our contemporary way of producing and consuming images.
Giovanni Boldini – The Seduction of Painting at the Cavallerizza in Lucca (until June 2)
Curated by Tiziano Panconi, the exhibition brings together over 100 works that trace the pictorial evolution of Giovanni Boldini. At the center are his famous life-size female portraits—his iconic “divine” figures—flanked by urban views and street scenes enveloped in elegant, opulent, and sometimes enigmatic atmospheres. What emerges is a journey in which formal refinement intertwines with a subtle psychological inquiry, revealing a gaze capable of going beyond appearances to capture the character and intimacy of his subjects.
Mikayel Ohanjanyan. Legami: Ties That Bind at the mudaC in Carrara (until August 30)
The mudaC | Carrara Museum of Art is hosting Legami: Ties That Bind, a solo exhibition by Mikayel Ohanjanyan, curated by Christopher Atamian and Tamar Hovsepian. The project consists of a single installation comprising five marble sculptures, created specifically for Carrara, which explore the theme of “ties” as connection, memory, and resilience. Through forms held together by steel cables, the artist reflects on identity, relationships, and interdependence, transforming abstract concepts into a powerful visual experience. The result is a meditation on the human condition and on what unites individuals, time, and history, in a balance between tension and harmony.
Antonio Ligabue. The Roar of the Soul at the Arsenali Repubblicani in Pisa (until May 10)
Organized by ARTIKA and sponsored by the City of Pisa, the exhibition brings together over 80 works to trace the human and artistic journey of Antonio Ligabue. A journey that conveys the full expressive urgency of an artist for whom painting was a visceral, almost instinctive necessity. The result is a collection of powerful works, characterized by vivid yet surprisingly balanced colors and an emotional force capable of striking a deep chord.
I Am an Architect: Ettore Sottsass at Palazzo Buontalenti in Pistoia (until July 26)
In Pistoia, a major exhibition pays tribute to Ettore Sottsass, a key figure in 20th-century design and architecture, as well as a painter, graphic designer, and photographer. Curated by Enrico Morteo and organized by Fondazione Pistoia Musei in collaboration with Electa, the exhibition brings together drawings, photographs, ceramics, objects, and archival materials. The exhibition traces the evolution of a critical perspective on the society of progress, while simultaneously revealing the search for a new humanism, entrusted to the expressive power of form, color, and light.
