January's must-see exhibitions in Italy

Pablo Picasso once said: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." So, if January is traditionally the month to say goodbye to everything that no longer works or makes us happy and to start anew, then an art exhibition could sweep away the last remnants of the past, gifting us a blank canvas on which to paint our future. Across Italy, there’s something for every taste: from the meticulously constructed and reconstructed spaces of German artist Gregor Schneider in Avellino to the Milan exhibition exploring the relationship between humans and dogs; from Pinakothek’a in Palermo, celebrating over a century of art history, to interactive inflatable works in Rome; from a photographic journey through the fashion of Gianfranco Ferré in Aosta to an exhibition in Ravenna retracing the vocal explorations of Demetrio Stratos. The choice depends solely on our interests—and, if we believe it might help us reset the past, on the color we wish to give our tomorrow.

The must-see exhibitions in Italy in January 2025

Gregor Schneider – Naples

Gregor Schneider is one of the most renowned living German artists, famous for his obsession with constructing and reconstructing environments. His most famous work, Haus u r di Rheydt, is a kind of claustrophobic reinterpretation of his family home's domestic spaces. A project ongoing for about twenty years, it blends painting, sculpture, installation, and architecture. The work was entirely reconstructed in the German Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001, where it was awarded the Golden Lion for best national contribution. Schneider removed the letters spelling the country’s name from the pavilion’s facade, replaced the German flag with the city’s flag, and reimagined the interiors by installing a matryoshka of rooms dismantled and relocated from his home in Rheydt. This Gesamtkunstwerk now serves as the starting point for Bauen und Töten, a new exhibition open until February 22, 2025, at the Fondazione Morra Greco in Avellino. The exhibition unfolds across the first and second floors of the Foundation, leading visitors through Schneider’s world, from his early performative and photographic works to his most recent creations.

Title: Bauen und Töten

When: until February 22, 2025

Where: Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples

Architecture for Dogs – Milan

If you share a symbiotic bond with your dog, grab the leash and head to the ADI Design Museum in Milan to see Architecture for Dogs, a visionary exhibition curated by Kenya Hara, an internationally acclaimed Japanese designer and Muji’s art director. The show celebrates the extraordinary bond between humans and their four-legged friends through architecture and design. On display are not just simple kennels but 22 original pet-tectures—architectures for domestic dogs—created by world-renowned architects. Featuring ramps, cushions, mats, and benches designed to keep long-haired dogs cool in warm climates, the exhibition also includes two new pieces by Giulio Iacchetti and Piero Lissoni for Riva 1920. Partnering with the event is the fashion house Giorgio Armani, which, alongside Poldo Dog Couture, has created a capsule collection entirely dedicated to canine companions. Bonus? Visitors can download plans and instructions for the showcased works from the official website to try building them at home and delight their dogs.

Title: Architecture for Dogs

When: until February 16, 2025

Where: ADI Design Museum, Milan

Marcello Maloberti - Milan

Until February 9, 2025, the PAC – Pavilion of Contemporary Art in Milan presents METAL PANIC, the largest retrospective ever dedicated to Marcello Maloberti, an artist known for blending irony, social critique, and experimentation. The exhibition is conceived as an open construction site in dialogue with the city of Milan, tracing the main stages of Maloberti's creative journey from his beginnings in the 1990s to today, including new works created specifically for the occasion. Visitors are welcomed by "Cielo," a luminous sign suspended 20 meters high and supported by the mechanical arm of a truck. Inside, highlights include Petrolio, more than 270 copies of Pasolini's last work, opened to the same page and marked with knives as symbols of analysis and denunciation, and M, an upside-down road sign that plays with historical memory, referencing both Milan's iconic letter and Mussolini, whose body was famously hung upside down by partisans in Piazzale Loreto. The title METAL PANIC? It is inspired by a 50-minute video performance where rifles, transformed into wind instruments by artist Pasquale Savignano, perform a musical score that transforms weapons into an invitation to peace.

Title: METAL PANIC

When: Until February 9, 2025

Where: PAC - Pavilion of Contemporary Art, Milan

Euphoria – Art is in the Air - Rome

For those wishing to return to childhood and enter a fairytale world, Euphoria – Art is in the Air is a must-see. This grand interactive contemporary art exhibition, hosted by the Balloon Museum, is open until March 30, 2025, at La Nuvola in Rome. Featuring over 20 monumental installations and works of Inflatable Art by renowned international contemporary artists like Carsten Höller, Philippe Parreno, Martin Creed, and Marta Minujín, the 7,000-square-meter venue transforms into a playful and magical universe. It offers an engaging and immersive exploration of unexpected shapes, rolling spheres, floating balloons, colors, lights, and sounds. After its stop in Rome, the exhibition will move to the Grand Palais in Paris from June 5 to August 28, 2025.

Title: Euphoria – Art is in the Air

When: Until March 30, 2025

Where: La Nuvola, Rome

Enzo Cucchi - Ancona

Looking for an intimate, multisensory, scenic, and engaging aesthetic experience? Head to Ancona, where the Omero Museum is hosting L’ombra vede by Enzo Cucchi until May 18, 2025. The exhibition showcases 42 works, including 4 unpublished drawings and 38 sculptures crafted from diverse materials like bronze, marble, ceramic, and wood. As the artist explains, the project is based on the idea that to fully comprehend a work, "it must be seen only in the dark; because things are preserved in shadow and darkness," and to view the world, "one should place their head on the ground, like pumpkins, and their hands on things." The result is a series of works that explore the boundary between light and shadow, including three sculptures designed to be discovered in darkness through touch and senses other than sight, housed in a unique cave setting.

Title: Enzo Cucchi. L’ombra vede

When: Until May 18, 2025

Where: Omero State Tactile Museum - Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona

Demetrio Stratos - Ravenna

Demetrio Stratos’ voice was not just a voice; it was an instrument. You don’t need to be an expert to recognize it. Just listen to one of his albums with I Ribelli and Area or his solo work like Cantare la Voce. His seamless transition from R&B to rock to experimental music, producing diphonic and triphonic sounds, and reaching an astounding 7000 Hz remains unparalleled. If you're intrigued by his figure, mark your calendars for January: To the Limits of the Impossible: The Vocal Research of Demetrio Stratos 1970–1979. Second Movement. Until January 31, 2025, the Palazzo Malagola in Ravenna is showcasing a selection of materials from the Demetrio Stratos Archive, acquired in late 2022 by the Municipality of Ravenna. The exhibition features documents, audiovisual materials of performances, lessons, concerts, headphone and immersive listening experiences, photographs, and memorabilia, focusing on Stratos’ vocal research, interest in world music, and diphony. Highlights include materials related to his participation in the 1978 project/happening Il treno by John Cage and his contributions to the music for Satyricon, directed by Gabriele Salvatores in the 1978–79 season at Teatro dell’Elfo. After this exhibition, you’ll understand why Stratos is considered one of the greatest singers of all time.

Title: To the Limits of the Impossible: The Vocal Research of Demetrio Stratos 1970–1979. Second Movement

When: Until January 31, 2025

Where: Palazzo Malagola, Ravenna

Pinakothek’A - Palermo

Pinakothek’A. From Cagnaccio to Guttuso, from Christo and Jeanne-Claude to Arienti is the title of the exhibition hosted until March 20, 2025, at the Sant’Elia Foundation in Palermo. It celebrates over a century of art history, Italian and beyond, traversing more than 15 artistic movements, 129 artists, and a collection of over 200 pieces. Curated by art historians Sergio Troisi and Alessandro Pinto, the project follows a chronological path, starting from the 1920s to the present day. For example, the interwar period is represented by significant paintings by artists such as Cagnaccio, de Chirico, Carrà, Pirandello, and Guttuso. The 1970s and 1980s feature works by Vasarely, Nigro, Rotella, Baj, and Christo. The 1980s are showcased through pieces by Chia, Germanà, and members of the so-called Officina San Lorenzo. Finally, the contemporary scene shines with works by Stefano Arienti, Bertozzi & Casoni, Luigi Presicce, and representatives of the so-called Palermo School.

Title: Pinakothek’A. From Cagnaccio to Guttuso, from Christo and Jeanne-Claude to Arienti

When: Until March 20, 2025

Where: Sant’Elia Palace, Palermo

Cristina Roccati - Rovigo

Do you know who Cristina Roccati is? Perhaps not, but she was the third woman in the world to earn a degree, after Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia and Laura Bassi, and the first “out-of-town student” in history. Born in Rovigo in 1732, after graduating in Bologna in 1751, Roccati devoted herself to teaching physics and experimental philosophy in her hometown. If you'd like to learn more about her life and the often-overlooked contributions of women to science, visit the exhibition Cristina Roccati (1732-1797). The Woman Who Dared to Study Physics, available at Palazzo Roncale in Rovigo until April 21, 2025. As the project's curator, Elena Canadelli, explains: “The exhibition gives a voice back to one of the protagonists of this electrifying era of science through a narrative centered on rediscovering this forgotten figure. It also highlights historical and scientific aspects of the 18th century—the century of reason and the Encyclopédie, of Voltaire and the French Revolution, but also of the dissemination of Newtonian theories among the general public and the awe inspired by natural phenomena such as electricity.” 

Title: Cristina Roccati (1732-1797): The Woman Who Dared to Study Physics

When: Until April 21, 2025

Where: Palazzo Roncale, Rovigo

Linda Fregni Nagler - Turin

The latest project by MAO – Museum of Oriental Art in Turin is Hanauri: Japan’s Flower Sellers. The exhibition features original photographs of flower sellers from the Yokohama school, collected over twenty years and presented for the first time alongside works by Linda Fregni Nagler. Nagler has reworked 26 mid-19th-century albumen prints, reprinting and hand-coloring them using a technique similar to that of the era (1860-1910). The arboreal theme is also present in the museum’s precious kesa textiles (dating back to the Edo period) and in the kimonos—one from Palazzo Madama and two pieces from the Museum of Oriental Art in Venice—alongside three exquisite lacquers and three kakemono scrolls signed by Yanagisawa Kien, Kawamura Bunpo, and Tomioka Tessai, sourced from a private collection.

Title: Hanauri: Japan’s Flower Sellers

When: Until May 4, 2025

Where: MAO – Museum of Oriental Art, Turin