Luigi Rovati Foundation: the 2026 exhibition program between the Etruscans and contemporary art

The Luigi Rovati Foundation in Milan has announced its exhibition program for 2026, which consists of three major projects to be held at the Art Museum and a series of exhibitions in the Art Pavilion, with national and international collaborations.

The first project at the Museum, entitled The Etruscans and Holland. A/R of the Corazzi Bronzes, will run from April 2 to October 4 and will present to the public the Etruscan bronzes from the ancient Corazzi Collection, originally from Cortona and currently housed at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Holland. After a first stop at the MAEC in Cortona, the bronzes will come to Milan in an exhibition organized in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, the Accademia Etrusca di Cortona and the Municipality of Cortona.

Instead, from May 6 to August 2, Storia di un gesto: il mito di Meleagro dall’arte classica a Warburg, a Picasso, curated by Salvatore Settis, will be on view. The exhibition will revolve around the myth of Meleager, among the most intense tales in the classical tradition, and the Roman sarcophagus with the relief of the Death of Meleager (c. 170-180 AD), belonging to the Brenta-Torno collection that will be shown to the public for the first time on this occasion. The exhibition will also analyze the so-called gesture of despair, a recurring figure in the representation of grief in the Western artistic tradition. Born and codified in Roman times, the gesture went through a long period of absence from the European figurative tradition before re-emerging from the 13th century, influencing artists from the Middle Ages to contemporary art, with references to Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. The exhibition will also include three plates from Aby Warburg’sMnemosyne Atlas, which recognized its importance for the return of gesture after centuries of oblivion.

The third project, Etruscans and Veneti. Waters, Cults and Sanctuaries, will be on view from October 14, 2026 to January 10, 2027. The exhibition will offer a journey through coastal sanctuaries, places of worship related to thermal and spring waters, and port contexts, spaces in which water served as a healing tool, a meeting place between communities, and a medium of relationship with the divine. From the Tyrrhenian Sea to the main centers of ancient Veneto, the project will explore religious practices connected to the sea, rivers, lakes and springs, also integrating the most recent discoveries of the Bronzes of San Casciano. The exhibition will be divided into two complementary stages, realized in collaboration with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, which will offer a section in the spaces of the Doge’s Apartment in the Doge’s Palace between March 6 and September 29, 2026.

In parallel, the Art Pavilion will host two international cooperation projects. May will see the opening of You Are Not Alone, a photography exhibition by Marco Mignani, sponsored by the Dr. Ambrosoli Foundation. The images, taken at the Dr. Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital in Kalongo, northern Uganda, document the experiences of families involved in the disability and care journey. The project, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, focuses on early diagnosis, training of health personnel and support for families, promoting social inclusion and improved quality of life, particularly for those facing visual, motor or mental disabilities.

June, however, will see the opening of Out of Place. Art and Stories from Refugee Camps Around the World, a project of the Imago Mundi Foundation under the auspices of UNHCR, which presents works and testimonies by 264 artists who live or have lived in refugee camps in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The project documents creativity born in precarious contexts and highlights how refugee camps are complex, vital and ever-changing spaces.

Luigi Rovati Foundation: the 2026 exhibition program between the Etruscans and contemporary art

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