Must-see exhibitions in Italy for March 2026: quick guide

Must-see exhibitions in Italy in March 2026

March brings a busy exhibition calendar across Italy. Below is a concise guide to the major shows, including dates and short descriptions to help plan your museum and gallery visits.

• Mark Rothko — Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, March 14–August 23, 2026.

  A focused presentation of Rothko's canvases arranged to interact with the palazzo's architecture and the city's historic sites. The display gathers more than seventy works from international collections, emphasizing color as a spatial experience.

• Rirkrit Tiravanija. The House That Jack Built — Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, March 26–July 26, 2026.

  An audience-activated project that converts the industrial naves into livable installations: structures and spaces meant to be used, inhabited and activated by visitors, blurring the line between artwork and social experience.

• The New American West: Photography in Conversation — 10 Corso Como, Milan, March 11–April 7, 2026.

  A photographic exhibition that revisits the myth of the American West by juxtaposing historic masters with contemporary perspectives on landscape and identity.

• John Giorno: The Performative Word — MAMbo, Bologna, February 5–May 3, 2026.

  A retrospective exploring Giorno's hybrid practice across poetry, performance and visual arts, featuring key projects such as "Dial-A-Poem" and archival materials highlighting the performative power of language.

• Jenny Saville — Ca' Pesaro - International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice, March 28–November 22, 2026.

  The artist's first large Venice exhibition: roughly thirty paintings that engage contemporary figuration in dialogue with the Venetian painting tradition.

• Io sono un architetto. Ettore Sottsass — Palazzo Buontalenti, Pistoia, March 6–July 26, 2026.

  A comprehensive look at Sottsass's work across architecture and design, featuring drawings, photographs and objects that trace his critical and human-centered approach to form and color.

• Tarot. Origins, cards, fortune — Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, February 27–June 2, 2026.

  An exhibition tracing seven centuries of tarot imagery, symbols and interpretations, from early decks to contemporary readings.

Practical tips: always verify opening hours and ticketing on the venue's official channels, book in advance when possible, and prefer weekdays or off-peak hours for a quieter visit. Look for exhibition resources and curatorial texts published by the hosting institutions to deepen your understanding.