Palazzo Cini. La Galleria, Venezia Archives

Casanova and Venice

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Giacomo Casanova, an emblematic figure of 18th-century Europe, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini is dedicating a major exhibition and cultural project to the celebrated Venetian. The first chapter of the double exhibition opens at Palazzo Cini in San Vio, from September 27, 2025 to March 2, 2026.

Curated by the Institute of Art History, with the participation of the Institute for Theater and Opera, the exhibition traces the multifaceted figure of Casanova – scholar, memoirist, philosopher, alchemist, traveler, and diplomat – throughout the restless century of the 18th century that ended with the fall of the Serenissima.

Through nearly one hundred works including paintings, engravings, books, objets d’art and documents from the Foundation’s collections and prestigious Italian and European institutions, the exhibition recounts the refined, cultured and contradictory world of the Venetian eighteenth century – Casanova’s century.

The exhibition is part of a wider cultural program involving all the Fondazione Giorgio Cini institutions, with conferences, concerts and seminars dedicated to the link between Casanova, Venice and Europe. These are also the two main themes of the double exhibition, articulated in two venues:

Casanova and Venice at Palazzo Cini in San Vio (September 27, 2025 – March 2, 2026) with a focus on Venice, the birthplace and the first stage of Casanova’s life.

Casanova and Europe. An Opera in Multiple Acts on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore (Oct. 17, 2025 – March 2, 2026): a look at Europe and the network of travels, relationships and adventures that made Casanova an ante litteram European figure. The exhibition Casanova and Europe. Opera in Multiple Acts is produced in collaboration for the staging with the Fondazione Teatro La Fenice.

Opening hours and admission

It is open every day (except Tuesdays) from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (last admission at 6:15 p.m.).

Telephone: 041 241 1281

Tickets online

Christ on the Cross | A Guest at the Palace

On the occasion of the seasonal opening of the Palazzo Cini Gallery, as part of the Guest at the Palace exhibition, the painting of Christ on the Cross from the Museo di Palazzo Reale in Genoa, a 1627 masterpiece by Antoon van Dyck, will be on display. In this work of sublime grandeur, acknowledged by critics as one of the most prestigious examples of the famous Antwerp master’s Italian production, the vigorous body of Christ nailed to the cross is silhouetted against a gloomy sky thickened with grey clouds, barely broken by flickers of dazzling light, softened by delicate pink veins.

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Open daily from 11am to 7pm (last admission at 6:15pm).
Closed on Tuesday.

Admission subject to a fee. For bookings, ticket prices, and purchasing details, please visit palazzocini.it
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Art Conversations

The Art Conversations at Palazzo Cini are back.

In this season’s series, art historians and experts will guide the public through the discovery of the art treasures in Vittorio Cini’s collection. Medieval and Renaissance masterpieces will be discussed and illustrated, delving into the themes and distinctive features each work encompasses. A special meeting is dedicated to “The Guest at the Palace”: The Crucified Christ by Antoon Van Dyck, an extraordinary loan from the Royal Palace of Genoa.

Participation is free and open to all, subject to booking via email: [email protected].

30 April | h 17:00
Cristina Guarnieri
University of Padua

14 May | h 17:00
Mari Pietrogiovanna
University of Padua

28 May | h 17:00
Roberto Cara, Valentina Lapierre
Art Historians, Ferrara

5 June | h 17:00
Loredana Luisa Pavanello
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice

Ljubodrag Andric. Spazi, soglie, luci

An artist born in Belgrade in 1965 and resident in Toronto, Ljubodrag Andric made his Venice debut in 2016 at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia.

With a partnership between the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and BUILDING in Milan, the exhibition features a dialogue between the photographic works created during the artist’s stays in Italy and those arising from his encounter with the historic buildings of Jaipur, Lucknow and other places in the heart of India. Particularly interesting is Andric’s gaze on the Palladian architecture of the monumental complex of the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore.

In the images, the relationships between the form, atmosphere, light and shadow of the places emerge, in a journey that transforms the architectural object into metaphor. In particular, Andric has investigated architecture over recent years that reveals organic qualities, unpredictable and labyrinthine pathways and well as providing emotional materials.
Beyond the peculiarities of the places photographed, the exhibition focuses on the originality of the language developed by Andric. It will be hosted in Venice in the rooms on the second floor of Palazzo Cini between April and September, and will then continue in the spaces of BUILDING in Milan from 9th September to 11th October 2025.
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[accordion_entry title=”Opening Hours and Admission”]
Open daily from 11am to 7pm (last admission at 6:15pm).
Closed on Tuesday.

Admission subject to a fee. For bookings, ticket prices, and purchasing details, please visit palazzocini.it
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Arturo Martini, Giorgio Morandi, Filippo de Pisis. The Franca Fenga Malabotta Bequest

In 2020 the Fondazione Giorgio Cini’s art collections were greatly enhanced thanks to a large bequest made by Franca Fenga Malabotta, widow of the well-known art critic, poet and collector from Trieste Manlio Malabotta (1907-1975), also renowned for his rich collection of paintings and graphic works by Filippo de Pisis, now in the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Ferrara.

The bequest includes a sizeable group of graphic works and books illustrated by major 20th-century Italian and Julian artists. Highlights include a watercolour and two etchings by Giorgio Morandi and a fine group of works by Arturo Martini, such as the splendid terracotta Ophelia (1932), a bronze Woman by the Sea (1932), the plaster cast Thirst (a bozzetto for the Finale stone sculpture of the same name, 1934), and a Still Life (oil on cardboard, 1945). The bequest presented to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini is the last step in a far-sighted strategy to find institutional homes for Malabotta’s important collection, which in 2015 had seen the donation of a large group of Triestine and Julian works to the Museo Revoltella, Trieste. One of the most important acquisitions in recent years for the Cini Institute of Art History, the bequest has considerable enriched its collection of 20th-century graphic works.

Specifically conceived for the first floor of the Palazzo Cini Gallery, the exhibition features the works of three artists who are most representative of Malabotta’s taste and collecting preferences. The exhibition is also a tribute to Franca Fenga Malabotta, who recently passed