Things to do in Milan in March 2026: 10 must-see events

Milan is a vibrant city and will be even more so in 2026, the year the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will take place, with many competitions and sporting events featuring athletes, citizens and visitors.

So, what are the things to do in Milan in March 2026?

The city will offer visitors many activities and cultural events across all forms of art, satisfying everyone's interests.

In this article, we will tell you what to do in Milan in March. If you are planning a trip to Milan soon, take a look at the most important events taking place in the city in March 2026 and enrich your journey with an experience to remember!

In March 2026, Milan will be buzzing with overwhelming energy! The Winter Olympic Games will bring sport and a powerful charge of positive energy to the city. But there are many things to do and see in Milan in March.

In addition to sporting competitions, an extraordinary program of cultural events awaits us, including exhibitions, art installations, tourism and photography fairs, musical events, and much more.

Here are the 10 cultural events not to be missed in Milan in March 2026:

- The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games

- Claude Monet: The Immersive Experience

- Vanishing Trees, the installation by Debora Hirsch

- Kandinsky and Italy

- The installation dedicated to snow

- The exhibition “Eternal and Vision”

- Mia Photo Fair BNP Paribas

- Fa' la cosa giusta: the critical consumption fair

- Candlelight concerts

- Giorgio Armani – Milan for love

Choose what to do and see in Milan in March 2026 and let yourself be carried away by the rhythm of the Lombard capital!

On March 6, two weeks after the Winter Olympics closed, the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games will begin.

This important sporting event will involve Paralympic athletes from around the world competing in six sports: alpine skiing, Nordic skiing (cross-country skiing and biathlon), snowboarding, sledge hockey, and wheelchair curling.

The competitions will take place in Milan and in some of the most picturesque locations in the Italian Alps. Milan will host the wheelchair curling competitions, Cortina D'Ampezzo the alpine skiing and sledge hockey competitions, while the Nordic skiing competitions will take place in Val di Fiemme.

The Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games celebrate sportsmanship and inclusivity in a setting that combines art, breathtaking landscapes, and the great human values of strength, talent, and resilience that Paralympic athletes embody, inspiring millions of people.

Event dates: March 6-15, 2026

For information on competitions and tickets, visit the Milano Cortina 2026 website.

During the Winter Olympics, Milan will also host various exhibitions and cultural events on winter sports, mountains, and the Olympic Games.

In this regard, we would like to highlight the exhibition “L'Italia sulla neve” (Italy on Snow), which will be held until March 22 at the Saletta della Grafica in Milan's Castello Sforzesco.

This free exhibition presents a selection of over 100 items, including postcards, magazines, posters, and brochures, from the graphic heritage of the “Achille Bertarelli” Civic Print Collection.

The exhibition reflects on the spread of winter sports culture and the mountains as a destination for sports tourism in Italy.

It also shows the changes and innovations in fashion and accessories related to winter sports and the mountains.

Milan is also celebrating the centenary of Claude Monet's death, the father of Impressionism, with an immersive exhibition dedicated to him!

Held at Spazio Ventura, a prestigious venue in the heart of the Lambrate district, this digital art exhibition is an immersive experience into the world of the French painter, an artistic genius of the 19th century.

With over 300 masterpieces on display, the exhibition is a total digital art experience that explores the artist's life, works, and secrets.

The exhibition offers a new exhibition concept that combines classical art with technology, amplifying the beauty and emotions of the works.

When: until April 4, 2026

Where: Spazio Ventura Milano - Via Privata Giovanni Ventura, 15, 20134 -Milan, Italy

How to reach Spazio Ventura: Green Line MM2 (Lambrate stop), Tram 33 (Piazzale Rimembranze di Lambrate stop) and Bus Line 54 (Via Pitteri or Lambrate FS stops).

For ticket information, visit this link.

Among the things to do and see in Milan in March 2026, we recommend Debora Hirsch's site-specific installation, curated by Clelia Patella.

Until April 15, 2026, the large LED wall on the ground floor of Palazzo Citterio will host “Vanishing Trees”, an installation dedicated to endangered trees.

The project, promoted by Palazzo Citterio and the MNAD (National Museum of Digital Art), was created in collaboration with the Brera Botanical Garden and the New York Botanical Garden. The installation aims to reflect on the theme of biodiversity at risk, bringing together digital art, science, and memory.

The artist's project originated in the Brera Botanical Garden, where the three species at the centre of the work are found: Ginkgo biloba, Pterocarya fraxinifolia, and Torreya taxifolia.

The installation uses digital technology to display and reinterpret images of these endangered trees.

The images form and dissolve like the cycles of nature, evoking the continuous relationship between birth, growth, and disappearance.

The trees and plant forms speak through texts written by Lucas Mertehikian of the New York Botanical Garden, becoming presences suspended between life and death, symbols of resistance to oblivion.

The artist highlights nature's point of view and restores to plant life forms the value and centrality that humans have taken away.

Those who wish can also visit Palazzo Citterio, an elegant 18th-century residence that houses works of great value.

Event information:

When: January 15 to April 15, 2026

Where: Palazzo Citterio – Via Brera 12 - Milan

Hours: Thursday – Sunday, 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Free admission

In March, among the many cultural events in Milan and its surroundings, we recommend the exhibition "Kandinsky and Italy" at the MA*GA museum in Gallarate, a significant exhibition that, through 130 works, recounts the link between one of the leading exponents of abstract art and the Italian artistic environment.

Starting with the European cultural climate of the 1920s and 1930s, the exhibition offers the opportunity to learn more about this great Russian artist who revolutionised 20th-century art, also influencing the artistic vision of many Italian artists of the 1900s.

Event information:

When: until April 12, 2026

Where: MA*GA Museum - Via Egidio de Magri, 1 - Gallarate

Hours: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Closed on Mondays. Open Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

For ticket information, visit this link.

The town of Gallarate can be reached by train from Milan in about 30 minutes. Direct trains depart from Milano Centrale and Milano Porta Garibaldi stations.

At Mudec, Milan's museum of cultures, in March, you can admire Chiharu Shiota's installation featuring snow.

This installation transforms the space into an intangible, ethereal landscape made of threads, from which hang sheets of paper bearing the names of people who have been part of our lives but whom, for various reasons, we cannot meet.

The artist creates a space for reflection, meditation, and the perception of presence in absence.

The melting snow represents something that is ending, the end of the cold and silence that once enveloped everything.

The public can actively participate in the installation by sharing their thoughts or drawings on the theme, either on paper to be left in a box at the museum or digitally.

The installation precedes the exhibition “Il senso della neve” (The Meaning of Snow), which can be visited free of charge at Mudec.

And after a moment of reflection, we recommend a nice walk to the Navigli, one of Milan's top nightlife districts!

Event information:

When: until June 28, 2026

Where: Mudec – Museum of Cultures - Via Tortona 56, Milan

Opening hours:

Monday 2:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday – Wednesday – Friday – Saturday – Sunday 9:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Thursday 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.

LAST ENTRY ONE HOUR BEFORE CLOSING

Free installation and exhibition

Fans of history and neoclassical art should not miss the exhibition currently on display at the splendid Gallerie d'Italia museum, a stone's throw from Milan Cathedral.

“Eternal and Vision. Rome and Milan, Capitals of Neoclassicism” is an exhibition focusing on the historical period from Napoleon's decline in Italy to the Congress of Vienna, a moment of significant change for Italy.

During this period of intense political and social transformation, Rome and Milan continued to play an essential role in art, the former as an eternal symbol of ancient and Renaissance art, the latter as a symbol of modernity.

In art, these two cities look to the future while remaining tied to the charm of the past. The big names in the exhibition are Antonio Canova, Giuseppe Bossi, and Andrea Appiani, who left an indelible mark on Italian and world art with their masterpieces.

The exhibition also recalls Giovanni Antonio Antolini's great architectural project, the Foro Bonaparte, and Napoleon's coronation as King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.

Event information:

When: until April 6, 2026

Where: Gallerie D'Italia - Piazza della Scala, 6 - 20121 Milan

Opening hours:

Tuesday - Sunday: 9:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. (last admission at 6:30 p.m.).

Thursday: extended hours until 10:30 PM (last admission at 9:30 PM).

The museum is closed on Mondays.

Cost: Full price admission €10, reduced price €8, special reduced price €5 for under 26s

Admission to the museum is free on the first Sunday of every month.

Among the things to do in Milan in March 2026, we include a visit to the MIA Photo Fair BNP Paribas, Italy's International Photography Fair.

This is the most important Italian fair for contemporary art photography.

It combines artistic research, collecting, and experimentation, promoting photography as a modern artistic language and involving curators, artists, galleries, and collectors.

The event offers a comprehensive overview of art photography through a cultural program rich in exhibitions, conferences, curated sections, awards, and prominent Italian and international guests.

Event information:

When: March 19–22, 2026

Where: Superstudio Più - via Tortona 27, Milan

Hours:

Thursday–Friday 11:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.

Saturday–Sunday 11:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.

For ticket information, visit this link.

Among the cultural events in March, we would also like to mention “Fa' la cosa giusta”, the fair on sustainability and critical consumption, an opportunity to discover a hidden Italy with an ethical lifestyle.

The event promotes critical and sustainable consumption through various themes: organic food and wine, ethical fashion and natural cosmetics, walking tours to discover Italy, tastings of typical products, workshops, and meetings to learn more about conscious lifestyles.

Fa' la cosa giusta is the ideal opportunity to discover local crafts and products. It is an event that highlights local communities, small historic villages where ancient traditions are still alive, and slow, sustainable tourism.

Event information:

When: March 13-15, 2026

Where: Fiera Milano Rho (Halls 16 and 20)

Opening hours: Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. - Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Free admission upon online registration at this link.

Fiera Milano Rho can be reached by the metro line M1 (red line) at the Rho-Fieramilano stop.

In the extensive program of cultural events in Milan in March 2026, music is a must—and we highly recommend attending a Candlelight concert.

Candlelight concerts are a multi-sensory experience that transcends the music itself.

These performances are held in historic and evocative venues such as the Auditorium San Fedele or the Casa Cardinale Ildefonso Schuster.

World-renowned musical legends, including Queen, ABBA, Ennio Morricone, and Hans Zimmer, will be honoured by talented musicians, all while surrounded by the glow of hundreds of flickering candles.

It is an unmissable appointment where music and architecture blend seamlessly together.

"Giorgio Armani. Milano per amore" (Milan for Love) is an unprecedented exhibition—a meeting between two worlds of extreme beauty.

The Pinacoteca di Brera pays tribute to the 50-year career and the legacy of the great designer Giorgio Armani, who passed away in 2025, by welcoming a selection of his creations into its halls.

For the first time, this Milanese museum—home to some of the most important masterpieces of Italian art—serves as the backdrop for an extraordinary exhibition dedicated to the journey of a designer who became a global symbol of Made in Italy.

Over 120 iconic garments are displayed alongside prestigious historical paintings, creating a visual dialogue of colors and fabrics that offers visitors a unique and refined aesthetic experience.

This exhibition is an unmissable event, transforming the Pinacoteca di Brera into a stage that celebrates beauty and elegance.

Event Information:

When: until May 3, 2026

Where: Pinacoteca di Brera – Via Brera, 28 – Milan

Hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 8:30 AM – 7:15 PM (Last entry at 6:00 PM)

For full details regarding the exhibition, please visit this link.