By Rebecca Ceccatelli. Cover image Lorenza Longhi. Senza Titolo (Ai divani! 1), 2026, dettaglio
Autumn is one of the best times to discover Florence and Tuscany through art. As museums unveil their biggest exhibitions of the season, the region offers an exceptional program spanning contemporary art, fashion, photography and modern painting. Whether you’re planning a weekend away or simply looking for cultural inspiration, these are five exhibitions worth adding to your itinerary.
1. BROKEN. The Power of the Fragment at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
25 September 2026 – 24 January 2027
One of the season’s most anticipated exhibitions is BROKEN. The Power of the Fragment. The show explores how fragments, whether archaeological remains, damaged masterpieces or deliberately incomplete works, have shaped the history of art and our understanding of beauty. Bringing together works from antiquity to contemporary art, the exhibition reflects on absence, restoration, memory and transformation, revealing how what is missing can often become the most powerful part of an artwork.
An ambitious exhibition that perfectly suits Palazzo Strozzi’s reputation for combining historical masterpieces with fresh curatorial perspectives.
2. Lorenza Longhi, Villa Delizia at Centro Pecci, Prato
19 September 2026 – 10 January 2027
In her first solo exhibition at an Italian public institution, Lorenza Longhi turns Centro Pecci into a space where glamour, design and consumer culture are viewed through a critical yet playful lens. Villa Delizia examines how everyday objects, luxury aesthetics and visual communication shape our desires, revealing the subtle mechanisms behind what attracts us and why. Created specifically for the museum’s Nio wing, the exhibition features a new body of large-scale textile works produced in collaboration with local manufacturers. Combining fabrics, recycled materials and deliberately imperfect techniques, Longhi embraces error and improvisation as creative tools, challenging conventional ideas of efficiency, taste and value. The result is an immersive installation that transforms familiar symbols of luxury into something at once seductive, ironic and quietly unsettling.
3. Karen Kilimnik, Cadabra at Centro Pecci, Prato
21 November 2026 – 29 March 2027
One of the leading voices of contemporary American art, Karen Kilimnik brings her distinctive universe to Centro Pecci with Cadabra, a survey spanning works from the 1980s to the present. Blending painting, photography, drawing and installation, the exhibition reveals an artistic practice where art history, fashion, literature and pop culture merge into dreamlike, theatrical worlds. Magic runs throughout the exhibition not as fantasy alone, but as a way of transforming the familiar into something uncanny. Romantic landscapes, aristocratic figures and cultural icons become part of immersive environments that blur the boundaries between reality and fiction, inviting visitors to reflect on how images shape identity, desire and collective imagination.
4. The Genius of Sarmi at the Museum of Fashion and Costume, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
18 June 2026 – 31 December 2026
This autumn, Palazzo Pitti shines a spotlight on one of the lesser-known figures behind twentieth-century haute couture. The Genius of Sarmi celebrates the career of Florentine-born designer Ferdinando Sarmi, who made his name in New York, dressing some of the world’s most glamorous women, including Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and Barbra Streisand.
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.
5. Edward Hopper at Palazzo Blu, Pisa
14 October 2026 – 7 March 2027
This major exhibition at Palazzo Blu offers the chance to enter the quiet, suspended worlds of the American painter, where empty streets, solitary figures and ordinary interiors become scenes filled with mystery and emotion.
Through his iconic use of light, architecture and silence, Hopper transformed everyday moments into images that seem to exist somewhere between memory and reality. The exhibition explores the evolution of his artistic language, from his early works to the mature paintings that made him one of the most recognizable voices of twentieth-century art. Perfect for an autumn day trip from Florence, Edward Hopper invites visitors to slow down and see familiar places from a different perspective.
Whether you’re drawn to contemporary installations, fashion history or some of the greatest names in modern painting, autumn 2026 offers one of the richest cultural calendars Tuscany has seen in years. With Florence, Prato and Pisa all hosting major exhibitions, it’s the perfect season to turn a weekend getaway into an inspiring art itinerary.
