The best exhibitions of the 2025 season in Liguria
Here are some of the most beautiful exhibitions in Liguria. Discover a Liguria of art and culture, all year round.
“De Chirico. The Metaphysics of Creation”
The Firmafede Fortress of Sarzana will be reopening its doors, after a year of renovation works, with a major exhibition, “De Chirico. The Metaphysics of Creation”, scheduled to run from 21 March to 21 July 2025. Organised by Associazione Metamorfosi in collaboration with the Sarzana Town Council, the exhibition, curated by Lorenzo Canova, will showcase some 60 works loaned by the Giorgio and Isa de Chirico Foundation in Rome.
Giorgio Griffa, “Painting the Invisible”
From 22 March 2025 at the Doge’s apartments
As from 22 March 2025, the Doge’s apartments in Genoa’s Palazzo Ducale will be paying tribute to Giorgio Griffa, a multifaceted Turin-born artist who has explored pop art, minimalism and conceptual art, and has participated in three Venice Biennales. As one of the leading exponents of Italy’s art scene, he has set up an ongoing dialogue with the history and primary signs of painting (sign, pigment, canvas).
Hollywood on the Riviera
The photographic exhibition “Hollywood on the Riviera”, which tells the story of film stars through the images of Francesco Leoni, will be making a stop at Castello Brown, Portofino, from 22 March to 30 June 2025. Drawing on shots taken from the Francesco Leoni Photographic Archive, this stunning exhibition continues its journey and lands in the splendid setting of Castello Brown, in Portofino. An evocative journey through the timeless charm of the Ligurian Riviera, immortalised in film sets and chosen as a holiday destination by Hollywood’s leading stars between the 1950s and 1960s.
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The Heirs of the Macchiaioli
From 28 March to 13 July 2025, Palazzo della Meridiana, Genoa, will be hosting the exhibition “The Heirs of the Macchiaioli: from Silvestro Lega to Plinio Nomellini“. A major exhibition dedicated to Italian 19th century art exponents, from Silvestro Lega to Plinio Nomellini, and taking in works – on loan from public and private collections – by Fattori, Lega and artists close to them: Micheli, Lloyd, Tommasi, Puccini, Bartolena, Gioli, Liegi, Panerai, Nomellini, Gambogi, Viani, Kienerk, Benvenuti, Romiti, Natali and Ghiglia.
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World Press Photo Exhibition
Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, from 30 April to 24 June 2025
The World Press Photo Exhibition is making its first stop at Genoa, at the city’s Palazzo Ducale, from 30 April to 24 June 2025.
The Loggia degli Abati will display some 140 images taken by 42 photographers, selected from 59,320 photographs submitted by 3,778 photographers from 141 countries worldwide.
Genoa will be the first Italian city to inaugurate this exhibition dedicated to the best international photojournalism, destined to tour 60 cities worldwide. Founded in 1955, the competition has established itself as the most prestigious benchmark in the industry.
Giacomo Lusso. Poetics of Signs. Ceramics and paintings
Poetics of Signs
4 – 25 May 2025 (Inauguration 4 May at 4 pm)
Palazzo del Commissario, Fortezza Priamar Savona
Giacomo Lusso (Malles Venosta, 1953), a cultured and sensitive artist, offers something more than a mere exhibition of his works. He invites the viewer to climb up to the Fortezza del Priamar in Savona to experience a journey into his own imagination.
Eugenio Montale: 100 images for the 100th anniversary of Cuttlefish Bones
13 May – 29 June, porticos of Palazzo Ducale
An important anniversary for Liguria and for Italian literature: the first publication, 100 years ago, of Cuttlefish Bones by Nobel Prize winner Eugenio Montale. As a tribute to this important work, Fondazione Arnoldo e Alberto Mondadori, in collaboration with Fondazione Palazzo Ducale di Genova, is organising an exhibition of photographs by Iole Carollo, Anna Positano and Delfino Sisto Legnani, as well as original editions, notes, diaries and period photographs tracing the poetic journey from the first edition of Cuttlefish Bones to 1975, the year when Montale was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
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Italo Cammarata “The Raspberry Season”
From May 17 to June 7, 2025
Galleria del Castello, Imperia
A series of paintings that evoke childhood, summer, freedom and lightheartedness: it is “The Raspberry Season”, a vivid image of a slow and suspended summer, in which time expands, and it gives space to discovery and freedom. The exhibition is a reflection of Cammarata’s work, but it also stands as his personal vision of the world.
Paolo Di Paolo, a retrospective
20 October – 21 December 2025, porticos of Palazzo Ducale
Around 200 shots by a photographer made famous by his delicate, rigorous and expert chronicling of post-war Italy and by his tour of the Italian coastline with Pier Paolo Pasolini, conceived to show a country on holiday, at the seaside. The exhibition previews the images taken in Genoa.
Morandi and Fontana. Invisible and Infinite
12 April – 14 September 2025, CAMeC, La Spezia
An exhibition dedicated to two great Italian artists: Lucio Fontana and Giorgio Morandi. A journey through art amidst the still lifes made up of colour and light, the landscapes contemplated from afar, and the walls warmed by the summer sun typical of Morandi’s artwork, and the void, the infinite and the cuts of Lucio Fontana’s works. Two artists that have long held a place of honour in all our hearts.
Ancient Japan – the Dawn of the Rising Sun at Museo d’Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone, until 11 May 2025
An exhibition on ancient Japan, a mysterious and obscure period slowly being brought to light by the efforts of scholars specialised in various disciplines and by the application of new comparative research methodologies. The aim of this scientific and archaeological exhibition is to present to a wider audience the fascinating time span ranging from 14,000/12,000 BC to the 7th century AD. The associated conferences are also worth following. Until 11 May 2025
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Snakes – Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria, Genoa
An exhibition with around 100 specimens of 50 different species of snakes from all over the world conquers the large hall on the ground floor of the Natural History Museum in Genoa, bringing spectators closer to the fascinating and mysterious world of these reptiles. Extended until 4 May 2025
En Garde! – Museo Civico Etnografico “Giovanni Podenzana”, La Spezia
Until Sunday, 4 May 2025, this exhibition of antique weapons unveils their secrets to the general public, revealing their rituality and the value of their artistic production and precious materials. This unique regional exhibition displays these authentic symbols of the evolution of human civilisation in all their beauty, with exhibits ranging from the tomahawks of the Native Americans to the boomerangs of the Australian Aboriginal people.
Interpreting Figurative Vases – Museo di Archeologia Ligure, Genoa
Until Friday 30 May, a must-see exhibition dedicated to the city’s history of around 2,500 years ago guides the inquisitive and the enthusiastic on a journey through Genoa’s pre-Roman necropolis. Figurative vases and other precious archaeological artefacts tell of the exploits of gods and heroes, stories that reveal the myths and beliefs of times gone by.
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Stunning weaves along the Silk Roads. Textile Art from Central Asia and China – Musei di Strada Nuova
Until Sunday, 29 June, the customs, stories and traditions of Central Asia and the Far East reveal their secrets to the general public in the evocative rooms of the Strada Nuova Museums. The journey, amidst porcelain, sumptuous clothes and bronzes, touches on countries with centuries-old traditions, from China to the Himalayan area, passing through Turkestan and the legendary Samarkand.
Permanent Collection of Gerhard Wolf – CAMeC, La Spezia
The Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art (CAMeC) in La Spezia reopens to the public in sumptuous style with the permanent collection of Gerhard Wolf, director of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz-Max Planck Institut. This unique exhibition catapults the viewer into a dynamic artistic dimension characterised by a variety of styles.
Orizzonte Terzo Paradiso – Vernazza and Corniglia
Until Tuesday, 31 December, the relationship between Arte Povera, Liguria and the Cinque Terre will star in a structured interdisciplinary exhibition project taking place in Vernazza and Corniglia. The programme includes three exhibitions and one public event: an exhibition on Alighiero Boetti in the Church of San Francesco in Vernazza, an exhibition on Arte Povera at Castello Doria in Vernazza, and an itinerant exhibition route between Vernazza and Corniglia.
