10 must-see exhibitions and events in Italy in January 2024

The New Year is just around the corner, bringing with it the desire to get out, to discover, to visit and do unforgettable things. At the start of the year, Italy is teeming with events, departing exhibitions and festivals that spread across the peninsula from the big cities to the unspoilt countryside.

Start the New Year in Italy, the perfect destination to experience exhibitions and events that will make your heart beat faster. If you want to enjoy unforgettable evenings of culture and entertainment in your 2024, don't waste any more time.

Here are 10 unmissable events and exhibitions in Italy in January 2024 that are just right for you.

Open to the public from 7 December 2023 to 7 April 2024 in the Sala Morganti of the Palazzo Malatestiano in Fano-Pesaro Urbino, nestled in the Marche region, the exhibition-dossier will surprise you.

It will be a very important and long-awaited return, worthy conclusion of the celebrations of the five centuries since the death of Pietro Vannucci, universally known as Pietro Perugino.

In fact, the Durante Altarpiece is returning to its home after an admirable restoration carried out by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, which will draw international attention to one of the masterpieces by the Umbrian master, in his time considered ''Primus pictor in orbe": the first painter in the world, as the contract drawn up in Fano also describes him.

In December, the great exhibition 'Antonio Canova and Neoclassicism in Lucca' curated by Vittorio Sgarbi will be held at the Cavallerizza in Lucca. 

An evocative journey, between painting and sculpture, that will start from Antonio Canova, universal icon of the new classicism, and from the most famous international exponents such as Francisco Goya and Francesco Hayez, up to the Lucchese and Tuscan masters of the same current, including Pompeo Batoni, Bernardino Nocchi, Stefano Tofanelli and Lorenzo Bartolini, to name but a few.

The exhibition will combine the mastery of Antonio Canova, one of the most famous artists in the world, with the recovery, promotion and valorisation of part of the artistic heritage of Lucca and Tuscany, and will be open from 8 December 2023 to 29 September 2024.

13 and 14 January in Folgaria. A widespread village with games, sports and music, in contact with nature, in wonderful mountain settings. The music and entertainment of Radio Italia will make every moment special.

At Fondo Grande you will find: entertainment, karaoke, sack races, tug-of-war, tug-of-war, inflatable rides, games, human bowling, drive test, footgolf.... and much more for the enjoyment of young and old!

The 35th edition of the Trieste Film Festival will be held from 19 to 27 January 2024. Once again this year, the Trieste Film Festival will feature a rich programme of Central and Eastern European films screened in various locations. In addition to the films, there will also be a series of workshops, exhibitions, walks, etc.

From 13 October 2023 to 4 February 2024, the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome will host a new exhibition dedicated to one of the most important Italian writers of the 20th century, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, entitled Favoloso Calvino.

More than two hundred works will be on display, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and antique illustrations, photographs, portraits and many first editions of his books.

Wine lands in Venice and does so in grand style, as the magic of this city dictates. Venice will become the oenological centre of our country from 20 to 23 January 2024, hosting a Red Carpet of wine for a simply iconic event.

A stage dedicated to protagonists, stories, contaminations and blends between the world of wine and beyond. An ideal container to talk about the three themes chosen by the organisers for the first edition of the event, which will be the focus of debate in dedicated round tables and talks, namely sustainability, ethics and innovation.

The evocative rooms of Palazzo Pallavicini in Bologna are hosting The World of Banksy, the new exhibition dedicated to Banksy, until 28 January 2024. Speaking, instead of the artist whom no one has ever seen and whose face no one knows, are his works. Works of unprecedented ethical, evocative and thematic power. 

Banksy represents the best evolution of the original Pop Art, the only one who connected 1980s graffiti art and the new approaches of the digital age. The intention of The World of Banksy is to safeguard street art so that it is studied and recognised for its important historical role.

The internationally successful format "Love Museum" finally arrives in Italy, with the first stop at Palazzo Fondi in Naples until 7 January 2024. "Love Museum" is the museum of Universal Love: for oneself, for one's family, for friends, for good food, for nature, for fun and, of course, for Art.

An explosion of colours and fun for the whole family. Every detail will be photographable and sharable on social networks, making the visitor the protagonist of the exhibition itself: come, shoot, share and tag!

The highly anticipated exhibition entitled 'Vincent van Gogh. Cultured Painter", take place in Milan at the Mudec until 28 January 2024, realised in collaboration with the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands, which boasts a rich collection of paintings and drawings by the Dutch artist.

More than forty works on display retrace his artistic career, not only through his most iconic paintings, but also with the story of what the artist loved most. From books, his great passion, to Japan of which he was fascinated and of which there are numerous collections of Japanese prints.

From 15 September 2023 to 14 January 2024, the Sala degli Stemmi at Torino Porta Nuova Station will host the original exhibition 'Body Worlds Vital'.

A fascinating journey through the human body. An exhibition that has reached an audience of over fifty million visitors worldwide.