Best exhibitions in Bologna and Emilia-Romagna [Updated: 2026]

You're in Bologna for the food, I know. And I give you plenty of that, I promise.

But what about some art to digest tortellini?

Here's a curated list of the best exhibitions to visit in Bologna and Emilia-Romagna, always up to date.

Arte Proibita – Forbidden Art

What happens when art becomes too uncomfortable, too challenging, or simply “too much”?

From ancient Egypt to contemporary installations, more than 50 works censored for political, moral or religious reasons arrive in Bologna from the Museu de l’Art Prohibit of Barcelona.

Paintings hidden in vaults, photographs pulled from exhibitions, sculptures that shocked governments.

This show is not only about what you see, but also about what you almost weren’t allowed to. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the limits of freedom and why, century after century, art keeps being silenced and yet survives.

📍 Palazzo Albergati, Bologna
🗓 October 17, 2025 – April 6, 2026

palazzoalbergati.com

Michelangelo and Bologna

Michelangelo is known for the Sistine Chapel, but his story also runs through Bologna.

This exhibition at Palazzo Fava celebrates his 550th anniversary and retraces the two periods he spent in the city, in 1494 and again in 1506–1508.

Through around 50 works, it reveals how Bologna shaped the young artist: from his fascination with Jacopo della Quercia to the sculptures he created for the Arca di San Domenico.

A rare chance to see Michelangelo before he became “Michelangelo.”

📍 Palazzo Fava, Bologna
📅 Until February 15, 2026

Graphic Japan – From Hokusai to Manga

Imagine walking through four centuries of Japanese visual culture: from delicate ukiyo-e prints by Hokusai and Hiroshige, to bold contemporary posters and the colorful world of manga.

This exhibition traces the evolution of graphic art in Japan, where tradition and innovation constantly overlap. Divided into four thematic areas – Nature, Figures, Signs and Contemporary Japonism – it shows how a simple line can capture entire worlds.

Whether you’re a fan of comics, design, or just beauty in its purest form, this is a trip worth taking.

📍 Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna

🗓 When November 20, 2025 – April 6, 2026

Tel. +39 02 91446110

graphicjapanbologna.it

Giorgio de Chirico – The Last Metaphysics

Modena celebrates Giorgio de Chirico with an exhibition dedicated to the artist’s late “neometaphysical” season.

Around fifty works retrace the decade between 1968 and 1978, when de Chirico—already in his eighties—returned to the themes of his early Metaphysics with new clarity, irony, and a brighter palette.

Mannequins, Italian squares and enigmatic interiors reappear, not as copies, but as playful reinventions. A rare chance to discover the master’s final, surprising rebirth.

📍 Palazzo dei Musei, Modena
📅 November 29, 2025 – April 12, 2026

Fashion & Advertising in Italy 1950–2000

How did Italian fashion learn to speak to the world?
Through advertising.

This exhibition traces fifty years of campaigns, posters and photography that brought names like Armani, Valentino and Ferré into everyday life.

From hand-drawn sketches to glossy magazine pages, from black-and-white shots to the explosion of color in the ’80s and ’90s, it’s a journey through style, persuasion and communication.

Hosted at Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, it’s also a chance to enjoy one of the most elegant villas in Emilia-Romagna.

📍 Where Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma)
🗓 When September 13 – December 14, 2025

magnanirocca.it

Giacomo Balla – A Universe of Light

Parma dedicates an extraordinary exhibition to Giacomo Balla, one of the leading figures of Futurism.

For the first time, masterpieces from the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome travel to Emilia.

Visitors will follow Balla’s journey from Divisionism—where light breaks into fragments of color—to the revolutionary dynamism of Futurism, where cars, dances and city life explode on canvas. T

he show reveals how Balla transformed the way we look at speed, movement and modernity. A rare chance to see the evolution of an artist who truly changed 20th-century Italian art.

📍 Palazzo del Governatore, Parma
🗓 October 10, 2025 – February 1, 2026

Luigi Ghirri – Lessons in Photography

Luigi Ghirri is one of the most beloved Italian photographers, and Reggio Emilia—his hometown—pays him a new tribute.

This exhibition is not just a collection of his most famous shots, but a dive into his working methods: sketches, notes, unpublished series, and small visual experiments that reveal how he observed the world.

From miniature landscapes to poetic everyday details, Ghirri transforms the ordinary into something universal. If you’re curious to understand how a photo can be both document and dream, this show is a masterclass in looking.
 

📍 Palazzo dei Musei, Via Lazzaro Spallanzani 1, Reggio Emilia
🗓 April 24, 2025 – March 1, 2026

www.musei.re.it

If you think ceramics are just about dusty plates, this exhibition at MIC Faenza will make you change your mind. 

It’s a journey into the "alchemy" of Doccia porcelain, one of Italy's most prestigious manufacturers.

The show explores two centuries of history, from the 1700s when Carlo Ginori personally experimented with chemical recipes to find the perfect porcelain paste, to the Industrial Revolution.

Don’t miss: The two "Amore e Psiche" (Cupid and Psyche) sculptures displayed together for the first time. They are massive, fragile, and technically impossible for the time—a true miracle of 18th-century engineering. You'll also see how chemistry changed art, with the discovery of new colors like "Chrome Green" and "Nankin Yellow."

📍 Where: MIC Faenza, Viale Baccarini 19, Faenza (RA)
🗓️ When: January 31 – June 2, 2026
💡 Pro tip: From February 7, every Saturday at 4 PM, there’s a guided tour included in the ticket price.

micfaenza.org

Andy Warhol. Ladies and Gentlemen

Ferrara is about to get a full dose of Pop: in 2026, Palazzo dei Diamanti hosts Andy Warhol. Ladies and Gentlemen, celebrating 50 years since Warhol’s legendary 1975–76 show in the same venue.

Forget Marilyn for a moment: this series captures vibrant, unapologetic portraits of Black and Puerto Rican drag queens, where identity, glamour and reinvention take center stage.

Expect a punchy, colorful journey through Warhol’s portrait world, with over 150 works (from silkscreens to Polaroids) in one of Emilia-Romagna’s most beautiful exhibition spaces.

📍 Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara
🗓 March 14 – July 19, 2026
studioesseci.net