To start the new year off, Palazzo Martinengo in the city of Brescia will host a fascinating exhibition called “From Hayez to Boldini: Souls and Faces of Italian 19th-century painting.” The event will begin on January 21st and will feature more than 100 paintings created by the masters of Italian art including Francesco Hayez [2] and Giovanni Boldini [3]. Hayez was a leading artist of Romanticism during mid-19th century Milan while Boldini focused more on genre and portrait painting. More work by Boldini will be displayed later on in the year at the Complesso del Vittoriano in Rome.

Next up on February 9th, the Galleria Gruppo Credito Valtellinese in Milan will present a show in honor of the late Renato Mambor [4] who was not just a painter, but a writer, photographer, and actor as well. He passed away just two years ago but is remembered all over the world as the founder of the “Conceptual Neo-Figuration” movement. The exhibition serves as a retrospective of his greatest pieces and avant garde style. 

The fifth centenary since the death of one of the most brilliant Venetian Renaissance painters, Giovanni Bellini [5], will be commemorated at Palazzo Sarcinelli in Conegliano in the province of Treviso. The exhibition, entitled “Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani,” will begin on the 25th of February and will display the masterpieces of the man who revolutionized the way Venetians paint.

In March, various works of art created by the prominent 17th-century artist from Emilia Romagna, Guercino [6], can be admired all throughout Italy. Visitors can attend an exhibition featuring his work at the Palazzo Farnese in Rome but they will also have the opportunity to go up to the dome of the beautiful cathedral of Piacenza to view the spectacular frescoes Guercino made hundreds of years ago. He is known for painting in the typical Baroque style characterized by dramatic lighting and bold colors. 

Liguria will celebrate their native painter, Amedeo Modigliani [7], at an exhibition that will take place at Palazzo Ducale in Genoa on March 16th. Even though the influential artist died young at the age of 35, he had a prolific career full of inventive work that still inspires young artists today. His art is instantly recognizable and consists of classic forms with primitive undertones.  

Last but certainly not least is a show at the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo near Parma called “Depero, the Magician.” Fortunato Depero [8] was a futurist painter, writer, sculptor, and graphic designer who grew up in Rovereto. There, he would go on to establish the “House of Futurist Art” which manufactured futuristic toys and furniture. At this particular exhibition, over 100 paintings, collages, drawings, clothing, pieces of furniture and other items will be on view starting March 18th. 

If you’re planning to take a trip to Italy in 2017, take time out to see some of the greatest masterpieces the country has to offer!