From July 8 to 14, 2026, Art Nouveau Week, the international event dedicated to Art Nouveau and its many artistic, architectural, and cultural declinations, returns. The initiative will involve more than three hundred cities around the world with a calendar featuring some 750 events spread over the course of a week. Now in its eighth edition, the review is promoted by Associazione Italia Liberty and curated by Art Nouveau expert Andrea Speziali, assisted by a scientific and honor committee composed of scholars and specialists in the field.
The program offers a wide range of initiatives, including guided tours, thematic itineraries, grand tours, lectures, scientific conferences, exhibitions, workshops and immersive experiences designed to deepen the knowledge of one of the most influential artistic movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The aim is to offer an international overview of the Art Nouveau phenomenon, highlighting the different interpretations of it that have developed in different countries. Making an event of this magnitude possible is a network of about four hundred professionals trained by Italia Liberty, including licensed tour guides, escorts, scholars, researchers, teachers and artists. Thanks to their contribution, the public will be able to explore thousands of artistic and architectural testimonies, discovering buildings, decorative works and masterpieces that have marked the history of modernity.
The 2026 edition will feature a particularly evocative central theme: the sea. A recurring element in Art Nouveau imagery, the sea will become the common thread of events, routes and insights, offering new keys to understanding the relationship between nature, art and innovation that characterized the movement.
Through a rich calendar of events distributed in numerous countries, Art Nouveau Week thus confirms its role as an international reference for the valorization and popularization of an artistic current that continues to exert a strong fascination on contemporary audiences.
A moment of exceptional significance will be the celebration of the genius of Antoni Gaudí, coinciding with the centenary of his death: June 10, 2026 will in fact mark World Art Nouveau Day (WAND), during which the entire festival program will be officially unveiled and a conference dedicated to the Catalan master will be held Among the most exclusive stands out the tour The Secret Geometry of Antoni Gaudí, curated by Davide Centonze, which will allow a limited number of participants to delve into the work of the modernist architect on the very weekend of July 11 and 12.
For the occasion, the ART NOUVEAU WEEK: Edition 2026 catalog was also published with new scientific findings on Art Nouveau and the proceedings of the previous 2025 edition conference along with a census of all Art Nouveau buildings in the world, some 40,000 with a more up-to-date list than the previous catalog. A work that curator Andrea Speziali has carried out over eighteen years of study.
The review also boasts eight major international exhibitions located between Italy and the United States. In New York, the exhibition Louis Comfort Tiffany. The Dream of Art Nouveau, featuring works by Tiffany, Gallé, Majorelle and Lalique. In Italy, Treviso and Cadegliano are hosting The Art Nouveau Manifesto. From Metlicovitz to Mucha, an itinerary dedicated to graphic design and the birth of modern visual communication. From Villa Toletti in Cadegliano (Varese), the beauty of the Art Nouveau graphic season can be admired at the Station at the Salce Museum. In Pesaro, the exhibition L’Art Nouveau in Italy. The organic line between nature and applied arts explores the relationship between art, sea and nature through ceramics, nature materials, postcards and historical photographs. In Cernobbio, Villa Bernasconi hosts two exhibitions dedicated to Riga Art Nouveau and the contemporary reinterpretation of swimwear through textile design. In Palermo, a major exhibition delves into the figure of Giuseppe Sommaruga, among the major protagonists of Italian Art Nouveau, while in Bari an exhibition celebrates Andrea Speziali, scholar and artist who designed the sketch of the first Italian postage stamp dedicated to Art Nouveau and the Italian Post Office folder. Completing the program is an exhibition by students of the Liceo Artistico di Massa high school, which confirms Art Nouveau Week as the most important international event dedicated to the enhancement of Art Nouveau heritage.
The journey through Italian Art Nouveau will take place throughout the peninsula, touching each region with specific programs, with access to Art Nouveau buildings usually closed to the public. Lombardy is confirmed as the leading region thanks to Sommaruga’s masterpieces in Milan (such as Palazzo Castiglioni and Casa Campanini) and the industrial realities of Crespi d’Adda and Busto Arsizio. Piedmont will offer Turin itineraries focused on the work of Pietro Fenoglio and the discovery of Leumann Village, while Friuli Venezia Giulia will highlight the influences of the Viennese Secession in Trieste and Gorizia. In the Veneto, the Venice Lido will shine again as a symbol of Belle Époque vacationing along with the great historic hotels.
In Tuscany, the figure of Galileo Chini will be central, with itineraries linking Florence (among Michelazzi villas) to Viareggio and Montecatini Terme, symbols of thermal and maritime wellness. Lazio will offer Roman routes between the Coppedè district, the Casina delle Civette and the Anzio coastline, while in the Marche the symbol will be the scenic Villino Ruggeri in Pesaro.
In Sicily, Palermo will celebrate the legacy of Ernesto Basile, with extensions to worldly Mondello and the modernist reconstruction of Messina. Puglia will reveal the frescoed ceilings of Palazzo Settanni in Rutigliano and the Mediterranean Art Nouveau of Bari and Taranto, while Calabria will offer exclusive access to the precious Villino Malgeri in Bova Marina. In Sardinia, the itinerary will touch on the seafront villas of Alghero and the esoteric Art Nouveau of Sassari, while Campania will enchant visitors with the helicoidal staircase of Palazzo Mannajuolo in Naples and the marine suggestions of Bacoli
Special attention will be paid to funerary art, with guided tours of Italy’s most important monumental cemeteries, from Staglieno in Genoa to Milan’s Monumentale and Rome’s Verano, places where the bourgeoisie between the 19th and 20th centuries left sculptural evidence of the highest value signed by artists such as Bistolfi and Wildt.
In addition to traditional tours, the public will be able to participate in en plein air sketching sessions, sand sculpture workshops (as in Pescara) and silent film screenings, making participation an active and immersive experience.
Internationally, the event will map the global spread of this style across more than thirty nations. From the colonial architecture of Algiers and Cairo to the opulent domes of Buenos Aires, from the Jugendstil neighborhoods of Riga to the modernist palaces of Barcelona, to the historic villas in Australia’s Melbourne and Sydney, Art Nouveau Week will demonstrate how this aesthetic language has been able to speak a universal language, adapting to vastly different climates and cultures. Many of these activities will allow visitors to enter private residences that are usually inaccessible, offering a never-before-seen perspective on the daily life and elegance of the Belle Époque.
|
| Art Nouveau Week 2026: over 750 events around the world to celebrate Art Nouveau |
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.
IT
FR
DE
ES
CN