What's on in Rome
September 2026
September at a glance: 3 exhibitions opening, 7 closing, and 22 more on view across the city.
Opening in September
EvolveArt. II Edizione10 SeptLa Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM)
Second edition of a competition for Italian art-high-school students on sustainability and the energy transition: eight finalist sculptures, chosen from 134 proposals by 232 students across 57 schools, exploring circular economy and youth's role in climate action.
Isaac Julien: All That Changes You. Metamorphosis15 SeptGalleria Borghese
A film installation by Isaac Julien in the Uccelliera pavilion, staged within the Metamorphoses exhibition: mirrors multiply and fragment the projected image of two celestial guides moving across eras and landscapes.
Origine. La donazione Madalena Negrone17 SeptLa Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM)
A donation from Italian abstract painter Madalena Negrone, centred on the 2025 oil "Origine" alongside six recent works including the five-metre "Blue 5172" and the four-part "Egg" series, curated by Guicciardo Sassoli de Bianchi.
Last chance
Francesca Woodman: Lately I Find a Sliver of Mirror Is Simply to Slice an Eyelid12 SeptGagosian Rome · Free
Nearly fifty lifetime prints by Francesca Woodman, many never before exhibited, exploring her ties to Surrealism and her 1977-78 time in Rome through staged bodies in dilapidated interiors.
I segni e le storie. Scene di una Roma inquieta tra Seicento e Ottocento13 SeptCastel Sant'Angelo - Museo Nazionale
Archival documents from the Roman State Archives paired with historical knives from a private collection reveal everyday life, conflict and social dynamics in papal Rome through judicial records and marginalia spanning 1611-1865, shown in the Bastione di San Marco.
Metamorphoses: Ovid and the Arts20 SeptGalleria Borghese
A major project with Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, built around Bernini's Apollo and Daphne and Pluto and Proserpina, tracing Ovid's myths through Titian, Rubens, Poussin, Rodin and Brancusi.
Tragicomica20 SeptMAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Arts
Over 300 works by more than 130 artists trace the ironic, tragicomic sensibility running through Italian art and culture from the post-war period to the present day.
SHE DEVIL 1420 SeptMACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
The long-running women's video-art programme, with Nathalie Djurberg as guest "Goodmother", confronts fear across films, performances and animations spanning personal, social and political registers.
Amelia Rosselli: Un canto nel suo spazio20 SeptMACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
An audio-room project built around poet Amelia Rosselli's own 1980s-90s recordings, turning her multilingual voice into an acoustic experience of writing that resists any single tradition.
One, Five, Twelve. Eighty Years of Premio Strega20 SeptMACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
An "ideal library" of over a thousand volumes traces eight decades of Italy's leading literary prize, framing it as a seismograph of the country's cultural and linguistic change.
Also on through September
Robert Mapplethorpe. Le forme della bellezzato 4 OctMuseo dell'Ara Pacis
A retrospective of over 200 photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, tracing his pursuit of pure form across portraits, flowers, the body and dialogues with classical sculpture. Curated by Denis Curti.
Alberto Garutti: Temporalito 10 OctMAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Arts
An illuminated rooftop installation whose lights flare in real time whenever lightning strikes somewhere across Italy, connecting art and visitors to the energy of nature.
Vermeer at Palazzo Barberini. Woman in Blue Reading a Letterto 11 OctPalazzo Barberini - Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica
Vermeer's 'Woman in Blue Reading a Letter', on loan from Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, comes to Palazzo Barberini for a focused display of the Dutch master's intimate light.
Irrepressible Curiosity. Masterpieces of the Twentieth Century from the Leone Piccioni Collectionto 16 OctVatican Museums
Twentieth-century paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints from intellectual Leone Piccioni's collection, including Burri, Morandi and Guttuso, donated to the Vatican in 2024. In the Borgia Tower rooms.
Andrea Pazienza: They Don't Always Dieto 18 OctMAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Arts
A seventieth-anniversary retrospective of the acclaimed comic artist Andrea Pazienza, gathering his strips, sketches and archival material across chronologically arranged galleries.
Troia and Roma: Myths, Legends and Stories from the Ancient Mediterraneanto 18 OctColosseum and Roman Forum
Over 300 artefacts from Italian museums alongside more than 220 works on loan from 19 Turkish museums trace the mythological and historical ties between Troy and Rome. The itinerary, introduced by a monumental replica of the Trojan Horse, connects the heritage of ancient Ilion with the myth of Aeneas and the founding of Rome.
A Night at the Colosseum 2026to 22 OctColosseum and Roman Forum
A 60-minute guided nocturnal tour of the Colosseum's arena floor and underground levels, paired with a new exhibition using holographic projections to explore ancient spectacles and gladiatorial combat.
After Un percorso di lavoro. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985 - After Steps Through Workto 25 OctLa Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM)
Recreation of the landmark 1985 show celebrating twenty years of collaboration between FENDI and Karl Lagerfeld, tracing the creative process from sketches through production across eight sections.
Kiki Smithto 31 OctGalleria Lorcan O'Neill · Free
Solo exhibition by American artist Kiki Smith at Galleria Lorcan O'Neill's Rome gallery, on view from 4 May to 31 October 2026.
Angeli: Messengers, Guardians and Wanderers from Antiquity to the Contemporaryto 1 NovCapitoline Museums
An exhibition in Palazzo dei Conservatori tracing the angelic figure across Western art from antiquity to today, through three sections: messengers, guardians and wanderers.
Hito Steyerl: Mechanical Kurdsto 1 NovMACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
A single-channel video and spatial installation exposes the hidden labour behind AI, following Kurdish-Syrian refugees who classify images for AI training while facing automated drone warfare.
Portia Zvavahera: Like Flowers We Fadeto 1 NovFondazione Memmo · Free
Zimbabwean painter Portia Zvavahera's first institutional show in Italy: a site-specific installation and a new body of paintings made during a Rome residency, exploring memory, loss and transcendence.
Vitalita dell'architettura italiana 1946-2026to 15 NovMAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Arts
An 80-year survey of Italian architectural ideas, projects and visions, tracing eight decades of the Republic from the post-war years to contemporary practice and future scenarios.
Miriam Cahn: Ciò che mi guardato 15 NovMACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
The Swiss artist's first major museum retrospective in Italy: 100+ works from the late 1970s on, anchored by the room installations Herumliegen and Familienraum, exploring the body, war and desire.
Moda in luce 1955-1975. Roma fra glamour e innovazione industrialeto 15 NovCentrale Montemartini
Archivio Luce multimedia show on Rome as a fashion capital, 1955-1975: 150 photographs, films, fabrics and 27 original garments by Valentino, Fendi, Forquet and the Fontana sisters.
Diego Rivera and the Construction of Modern Art in 20th-Century Mexicoto 13 DecCapitoline Museums
A retrospective at Villa Caffarelli of over 140 works showing how Diego Rivera and his contemporaries forged modern Mexican art from pre-Columbian heritage and post-revolution ideals.
The Colossal Statue of Constantineto 31 DecCapitoline Museums
A 1:1, roughly 13-metre reconstruction of the 4th-century colossus of Emperor Constantine, displayed in the garden of Villa Caffarelli using casts of the surviving original fragments.
L'Ara si rivelato 31 DecMuseo dell'Ara Pacis
An immersive evening videomapping experience that restores the altar's original polychromy, animating its marble reliefs with light, music and multilingual narration on a roughly 45-minute route inside the monument.
- Artista alla GNAMC. Marinella Senatore: Protagonista 2026to 31 Dec
La Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM)
GNAMC's Artist of the Year turns the entrance hall into a year-long participatory lab, with 40+ works including four monumental 'Theatre of Commons' tapestries, drawings and a light sculpture.
Il non finito: fra poetica e tecnica esecutivato 4 JanCapitoline Museums
A Pinacoteca display using scientific imaging to reveal the creative process behind unfinished paintings by artists such as Palma il Vecchio, Guido Reni and Garofalo.
ENTRATE TAKK: con-vivereto 14 FebMAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Arts
Barcelona and New York studio TAKK fills MAXXI's lobby with six mobile sculptural elements made of low-carbon and living materials, exploring new ways of coexistence.
I Colori dell'Antico: Marmi Santarelli ai Musei Capitolinito 30 AprCapitoline Museums
A long-running display in Palazzo Clementino of over 660 polychrome marbles from the Imperial age, from the Santarelli collection, illustrating Rome's history through coloured stone.
Stay in the loop on Rome
A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.