Monuments aren’t the only reason to visit Florence, there is also a great and ever-changing selection of temporary exhibits taking place across the city at major museums, private museums, and galleries that complement the base and monumental amount of works spread across the city. Often, it is the best way to see contemporary artists and works, an interplay between past and present.
As you plan your time in Florence over the upcoming months, make sure to check out and add a visit to museums to also get a chance to see these exhibits, many of which offer a more modern, contemporary air to the city.
OTTONE ROSAI. POET ABOVE ALL
Where: Museo Novecento
When: from March 7 to October 4, 2026
Hours:
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 11:00 am – 8:00 pm
- Thursday: Closed
More info: museonovecento.it
The exhibition “Ottone Rosai. Poeta innanzitutto” at the Museo Novecento offers a deep dive into the life and work of Ottone Rosai, one of Florence’s most distinctive 20th-century artists. Bringing together works from the Rosai legacy and the Alberto Della Ragione collection for the first time, the show explores his close relationship with the city and its intellectual circles.
Through around 70 works, along with archival materials and letters, the exhibition highlights two central themes in Rosai’s art: intimate portraits of friends and fellow thinkers, and evocative views of Florence’s streets and landscapes - depicted not just as real places, but as emotional, almost poetic inner worlds. The result is a powerful portrait of an artist who transformed everyday life into something deeply human and reflective.
Victor Man. The Time of Images
Where: Museo Novecento
When: from September 26 to March 7, 2027
Hours:
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 11:00 am – 8:00 pm
- Thursday: Closed
More info: museonovecento.it
At the Museo Novecento, Romanian artist Victor Man takes over the ground-floor galleries of this museum on piazza Santa Maria Novella. Curated by Sergio Risaliti, the exhibition brings together around 25 paintings exploring recurring themes in Man’s enigmatic practice, from maternity, portraiture and self-portraiture to still life and the female figure. Five paintings from the Luminary Petals on a Wet Black Bough series are also on view, including Untitled (After Michelangelo) (2023).
BROKEN. THE POWER OF THE FRAGMENT
Where: Palazzo Strozzi
When: from September 25 to January 24, 2027
Hours: 10am-8pm daily and every Thursday until 11pm
More info: palazzostrozzi.org
The new exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi is a major exploration of the fragment as an important element in its own right and its enduring power in sculpture, from antiquity to contemporary art. Organized with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the exhibition brings together more than 80 works from major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre and the British Museum. Its journey stretches from Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece and Etruria to the Greco-Roman world and cultures across Mexico, Mali, Peru and Cambodia, bringing masterpieces by Giovanni Pisano, Michelangelo and Auguste Rodin into dialogue with works by Louise Bourgeois, Huma Bhabha, Robert Gober, Francesco Vezzoli and Danh Vo. Rather than viewing fragments simply as remnants of lost wholes, the exhibition considers them as objects bearing traces of memory, destruction and transformation.
A striking installation by Mark Manders occupies the Renaissance courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi during this time as well
BEYOND THE RENAISSANCE: BETWEEN DÜRER AND PARMIGIANINO
Where: Palazzo Medici Riccardi
When: September 10 – January 5, 2027
Hours:
- Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays: 9am-7pm
- Wednesdays: closed
More info: palazzomediciriccardi.it
“Beyond the Renaissance. Between Dürer and Parmigianino” is an exhibition devoted to the extraordinary technical and aesthetic richness of European Mannerist printmaking and to the profound relationship that Georg Baselitz, one of today's leading contemporary artists, developed with the masters of the sixteenth century through decades of research and collecting. The show has about 150 works of Mannerist prints, drawn from Baselitz's private collection and the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts.
COSIMO III, ST. FRANCIS AND NASINI
Where: Palazzo Medici Riccardi
When: September 24 – January 31, 2027
Hours:
- Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays: 9am-7pm
- Wednesdays: closed
More info: palazzomediciriccardi.it
Eight hundred years after the death of Saint Francis, Palazzo Medici Riccardi reconstructs a significant chapter in Cosimo III de’ Medici’s devotion and patronage. This show brings back to Florence, more than three centuries after they were painted, four large canvases by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini dedicated to the life of the Saint that Cosimo III commissioned after his own pilgrimage to Assisi as thanks for the hospitality he received at the Grand Convent. A fifth canvas was also commissioned but lost in time.
The exhibitions also includes letters, a facsimile of a preparatory drawing and the Reliquary of St. Francis’s Robe, from the Compagnia delle Stimmate of the Basilica of San Lorenzo.
THE GENIUS OF SARMI: FERDINANDO SARMI NEW YORK
When: June 18 to December 31, 2026
Where: The Museo della Moda e del Costume - second floor of Palazzo Pitti (Palazzina della Meridiana). The show is in the Saloncino da Ballo and the adjacent rooms
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 8.15am - 6.30pm
More info: Uffizi website
If you love fashion, then make sure to visit this cool exhibition at Palazzo Pitti's Fashion and Costume Museum. The Genius of Sarmi: Ferdinando Sarmi New York, A Journey in Fashion from Florence to Fifth Avenue is a retrospective of the Florentine couturier who conquered the American elite, dressing Hollywood stars and other iconic figures of international society. His clients included Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich and Barbra Straisand, as well as the First Lady Pat Nixon.
He took part in the 1951 Florence show organised by Giovanni Battista Giorgini, regarded as the founding event of modern Italian fashion. There Elizabeth Arden noticed him and called him to New York to run her brand's fashion line.
Bringing together elegant couture gowns, archival photographs, sketches and accessories, the exhibition traces Sarmi’s journey from Florence to Fifth Avenue, highlighting his role in introducing Italian craftsmanship to the American fashion scene during the 1950s and 1960s. More than a retrospective, it offers a fascinating glimpse into a defining moment in fashion history, when Italian elegance became an international symbol of style and sophistication.
FIRENZE '50 '60 '70 - IMAGES FROM THE FOTO LOCCHI ARCHIVE
When: May 7 - October 18, 2026
Where: Villa Bardini
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am - 7.30pm, closed only on the first and last Mondays of the month
More info: villabardini.it
If you want to see the Florence of the past through photographs, most of us will end up finding photographs taken by the local studio Locchi. The studio in fact became the city's official agency and at one time had over 30 master photographers. We are very fortunate the studio has their own archive since its 1924 founding and through acquistions has over 5 million photographs. This exhibit - Firenze '50 '60 '70 - digs back to three specific decades, to convey not only images but also the atmosphere, transformation and collective memories that became part of Florentine identity.
The 1950s emerge as a worldly and optimistic period, when Florence became an international catwalk, marked by glamour and La Pira’s utopian vision. The 1960s appear more intense and dramatic, shaped by the 1966 flood and the first student protests. Finally, the 1970s tell of a more reflective and conceptual city, where the Florentine fairy tale fades into a new urban and cultural complexity.
The exhibition is organised into ten thematic sections that open with the post-war period. They include workers’ demonstrations, the 1966 flood, everyday life including bathing in the Arno as well as sunbathing along its banks. Also on display are images of Hollywood stars parading through the city, alongside photographs of visits by writers, artists and fashion designers. One room is dedicated entirely to the history of Fiorentina football club and its glories and victories on the pitch, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. This is an exhibition to walk through and look through and find all the places you know in Florence, as well as see what has changed and is no longer there.
AN IMMERSIVE JOURNEY THROUGH DANTE'S INFERNO
When: May 15 - November 15, 2026
Where: deconsecrated church of Santo Stefano al Ponte, called Cattedrale dell'Immagine
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am - 7.30pm, closed only on the first and last Mondays of the month
More info: danteimmersive.com/
Dante's Inferno Immersive Experience is a multi-layered project that transforms the first cantica of Dante's Divine Comedy — one of the most powerful narratives in world literature — into a contemporary experiential space. Beginning with Dante losing his way in the Dark Forest, this 25-minute multimedia journey through Hell is not merely a fantastical narrative about the afterlife; it is a profound inner questioning in which the visitor confronts their own choices, weaknesses, desires, fears, and conscience.
The project positions the visitor not as a spectator observing Dante's story from the outside, but as a traveler moving step by step through this dark universe. Through spectacular digital animations, visitors descend into the nine circles of the afterlife alongside the Supreme Poet and Virgil, in an experience uniting art, literature and technological innovation.
In the heart of Florence, the deconsecrated church of Santo Stefano al Ponte is one of the unknown masterpieces of Florentine architectural heritage. In 2015, thanks to Crossmedia Group, the church was reborn as the Cattedrale dell'Immagine — the first permanent centre in Italy for Immersive Art Experiences. Every year it hosts new digital immersive experiences such as this one dedicated to the world's greatest art masters. It is truly a space where you can experience art and culture mixed with today's modern digital world. The VIP ticket generally includes a VR headset, quite popular with kids and adults alike.
Additional exhibitions set to open soon
Artemisia Gentileschi a Firenze
When: October 21, 2026 - April 4, 2027
Where: Museo degli Innocenti
At the Museo degli Innocenti, the spotlight falls on Artemisia Gentileschi and the formative years she spent in Florence. It was here that the painter reached artistic maturity, became the first woman admitted to the Accademia delle Arti, received prestigious commissions from the Medici and moved within the intellectual circles of Galileo Galilei and other leading figures of the period. Freed from the sensationalism that had surrounded her departure from Rome, Florence allowed Gentileschi to establish herself on her own terms and secure her place among the great masters of art history. The exhibition focuses on this pivotal chapter of her career and is complemented by two masterpieces by Caravaggio. An exhibition ticket also includes access to the museum’s permanent collection, spread across more than four floors.
Magnifico 1492
When: November 30, 2026 - February 2027
Where: Tesoro dei Granduchi, Palazzo Pitti, Uffizi Galleries
The show reconstructs, on the largest scale yet attempted, the Medici art collection as it was inventoried in 1492, when Lorenzo died. That collection was kept in the family palace on Via Larga, now Palazzo Medici Riccardi. It has since been scattered across museums worldwide.
More than 100 works, with loans from Italian and international museums. In an interview, Verde mentioned more than 150 pieces coming to Florence. Paintings and sculptures, plus vases, gems, cameos, coins, illuminated manuscripts and maps. These show the range of the Medici's interests and curiosities. Lorenzo's circle included Botticelli and the young Michelangelo.
The centrepiece, however, will be that Paolo Uccello's three Battle of San Romano panels will be reunited. They are now split between the Uffizi, the Louvre and the National Gallery in London. They were dispersed in the second half of the 19th century, and this will be their first reunion in about 150 years. The paintings had belonged to another family, and Lorenzo pressed them to sell it to him. More info to come soon!
Combine the fabulous art of Florence with a program of events and activities that will help introduce you to this wonderful city, click the month below to stay updated on the latest news.
Author's Note: This article was last updated on October 1, 2026 and is often updated; check back to see what is on as we keep adding new exhibitions as they open.
