Remembrance Day 2026 in Florence
All the most important initiatives on January 27, in memory of the victims of the Holocaust
If knowing the past remains an essential value for every nation and every society, this value becomes even more significant in the case of Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the victims of the Shoah. In particular, 27 January 1945 marks the day when the Soviet army in Poland discovered the Auschwitz concentration camp, revealing to the world the shocking extermination program carried out in Nazi death camps.
On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Florence presents a wide-ranging programme of guided tours and cultural initiatives that unfolds across some of the city’s most significant sites linked to the history of the twentieth century: MAD Murate Art District, Museo Novecento and the Memorial to the Deportations. A city-wide itinerary that weaves together art, memory and historical testimony, offering the public opportunities for reflection and deeper understanding of one of the most tragic chapters in European history.
Il carcere duro delle Murate (foto courtesy MAD Murate Art District)The core of the programme takes place on Tuesday, 27 January, with an afternoon of thematic guided tours held alongside the official commemorations of the day, reaffirming remembrance as both a duty and a warning for future generations.
At MAD Murate Art District, at 3 pm and 4.30 pm, two free guided tours will lead visitors through the spaces of the former Murate prison, including the so-called high-security section, the harshest area of detention between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among those imprisoned here were Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Carlo Levi and Gaetano Salvemini. Today a centre for contemporary art production and research, the Murate complex retains a profound historical memory: in 1944, it served as a gathering point for numerous deportees before their transfer to Nazi extermination camps. The tours restore the historical and symbolic value of a site that remains, at the heart of Florence, a living and tangible document of the past.
At the same times, 3 pm and 4.30 pm, the Museo Novecento offers two thematic visits dedicated to its permanent collection, focusing on the development of Italian art during the years of persecution and war. The itinerary highlights artists directly or indirectly affected by the events of the period—such as Mario Mafai, Carlo Levi and Renato Guttuso—and gives special attention to the figure of collector Alberto Della Ragione, who played a key role in protecting artists and safeguarding their works during the darkest years of the regime.
Alongside the initiatives on 27 January, guided tours also continue at the Memorial to the Deportations, a place dedicated to the memory of deportations to Nazi concentration camps and home to the immersive installation created by Italy for the Auschwitz extermination camp. Tours will take place on 23, 24, 25, 26, 30 and 31 January at 10 am and 11.30 am, and on 1 February at 11.30 am, 3 pm and 4.30 pm. Further in-depth events are also scheduled at the Memorial, organised in collaboration with the Region of Tuscany, the City of Florence, Fondazione MUS.E, the City of Prato, the Museum of Deportation and ANED.