7 unmissable events and exhibitions not to be missed in Venice in January 2026

In January, Venice is wrapped in a quietness that seems to rise directly from the water, while the morning mist softens the outlines of calli and palaces like a delicate veil. It is a moment when the Serenissima slows down, empties, and breathes: the banks grow silent, the bridges feel lighter, and the vaporetti glide along without haste.

Anyone who visits Venice at this time discovers the city in its most authentic form, far from the usual frenzy, suspended between ancient charm and a beauty that feels almost cinematic.

Winter days bring a gentle light that turns even shadows into poetry. Walking through the city comes with a rare sense of intimacy, as if the lagoon city (so fragile, so unique) were offering privileged access to those who choose to encounter it during one of the quietest months of the year.

The first month of the year brings a different rhythm to Venice: the calli, quieter than usual, become the perfect place to let yourself be guided by events that blend art, culture, and lagoon traditions. The city turns into a mosaic of happenings that, though varied, share the same enchantment, the magic of a place unlike anywhere else in the world.

Venice is not simply a city; it is an experience, a living organism that changes with the tides, the light, and the seasons. In January, major exhibitions can be enjoyed without rushing, events feel more intimate, and the city’s spaces (its squares, churches, and palaces overlooking the canals) offer a slower, deeper kind of welcome.

The selection of events that follows was born from this spirit: a way to tell the winter face of the Serenissima through unmissable experiences capable of revealing corners and atmospheres that often slip by unnoticed during busier times of the year.

Among the most beloved Epiphany traditions in Venice is the Regata delle Befane, an event that marks the end of the Christmas season and opens the path toward Carnival. It is a celebration that transforms the Grand Canal into a lively and surprising stage.

The regatta is organized by the senior members of the Bucintoro, the oldest rowing association in Venice. Each year, more than fifty men (dressed as Befane, complete with colorful skirts, shawls, and pointed hats) row along the Grand Canal from San Tomà to the Rialto Bridge, competing in a race that is as humorous as it is heartfelt. Waiting for them near the bridge is a giant Befana stocking, the symbolic finish line of this playful competition.

The Regata delle Befane is especially cherished by families: children and adults gather along the banks and lean over the bridges to cheer on the “Befane” and enjoy the distribution of sweets and candies, one of the most anticipated moments of the day.

Where: Grand Canal
When: January 6, 2026

In January, the Veneto region becomes one of the most striking stages of the Olympic Flame’s journey for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games. For eight days, the symbolic fire of sporting unity will travel through the territory, passing through forty-five municipalities and six UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is part of a larger route that will cross the entire country, entrusting each torchbearer with the task of carrying a fragment of national history and pride.

On Thursday, January 22, the flame will reach the Venetian area, starting in Chioggia and following the River Brenta through Stra, Mestre, and Porto Marghera. The final stop of the day will be Venice itself, where the flame will enter the city and reach Piazza San Marco, where a mobile cauldron will be lit to hold its glow throughout the evening.

It will be a spectacular arrival, accompanied by music, artistic performances, and events designed to celebrate a moment destined to remain in the city’s memory.

Where: Piazza San Marco
When: January 22, 2026

The Venice Carnival 2026 will begin on Saturday, January 31, officially opening a season of festivities that will enliven the city until February 17. It is one of the most eagerly awaited times of the year, when Venice transforms into an open-air stage and its most playful, theatrical, and visionary soul emerges in all its magnificence.

The theme chosen for this edition, “Olympus – At the origins of the game”, evokes mythology and the harmony between body and mind, but also speaks to the ancient history of the Venetian Carnival itself. In past centuries, the city was a vast arena of skill challenges, collective games, acrobatics, and competitions that anticipated the spirit of the modern Olympic Games. From “feats of Hercules” to acrobatic performances, from regattas to tournaments filling calli and campi, Venice has always known how to turn competition into spectacle and challenge into celebration.

The opening day will therefore mark not only the beginning of an age-old tradition but also the return of that irresistible energy that has always belonged to the city. A debut that promises wonder, excitement, and a celebration capable of blending past and present into one vibrant atmosphere.

Where: Historic center, calli, Piazza San Marco
When: January 31, 2026 (until February 17)

Among the most original winter events in Venice is the Venice Burlesque Festival, an international celebration that brings glamour, irony, and a touch of old-world theatre to the lagoon. It is a one-of-a-kind festival where performers from around the globe compete for the title of Doge or Dogaressa of Venice, in a contest that blends talent, creativity, and irresistible retro elegance.

Alongside the shows, the program includes exclusive workshops and a photo shoot set in the most iconic backdrop imaginable: Venice itself. It’s an opportunity to immerse yourself in the art of burlesque and explore posture, stage presence, and theatrical play under the guidance of renowned professionals.

The heart of the festival is Teatro A L’Avogaria, one of the most evocative independent theatres in the city. Founded in 1969 by Giovanni Poli, it is a small jewel tucked away in the historic center, known internationally for its artistic seasons and for its crucial role in preserving Venetian theatrical tradition, particularly the Commedia dell’Arte.

Where: Teatro A L’Avogaria, Dorsoduro
When: Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 January 2026

At the Museo Correr, Nocturnes enchants visitors with Karen LaMonte’s new series of works, an artist who reveals the human figure through absence. Her process begins with the dress as a container, a trace, an imprint of a body that is no longer there. From this foundation, she builds a meticulous, hands-on practice in which every fold, ripple and thread is recreated with almost scientific precision. It is an investigation through subtraction, one that does not diminish the form but instead amplifies it, making visible what usually remains hidden.

Her glass sculptures appear suspended in time. Their transparency captures the delicacy of everyday gestures and the silent presence of a feminine world evoked rather than depicted. Each piece becomes a fragment of memory, held still within a material that both traps the light and lets its deepest echoes filter through.

With Nocturnes, LaMonte takes her vision further: the sculptures become nocturnal apparitions immersed in shifting shades of blue, a journey through the tones of evening as it slips into night. It is a path of layered hues, of colors chasing one another tone on tone, creating an atmosphere that feels suspended, almost hypnotic. An invitation to enter an intimate, contemplative universe where absence becomes presence, and light sketches the poetry of the unseen.

Where: Museo Correr, San Marco
When: Until February 28

The exhibition dedicated to Pietro Bellotti marks the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of a painter still little known to the wider public, yet capable of portraying seventeenth-century Venice with remarkable depth. Born near Brescia but active in the lagoon for most of his career, Bellotti emerges as a fascinating figure, perfectly woven into the extraordinary artistic landscape of Baroque Venice.

This exhibition represents a historic moment for the city: it is the first that Venice has devoted to seventeenth-century painting in more than sixty years, since the celebrated 1959 show at Ca’ Pesaro. It also adds a new chapter to the work of the Gallerie dell’Accademia, which in recent years has focused on rediscovering and enhancing its seventeenth-century collections, now newly arranged on the ground floor. Bellotti, though lesser known today, was highly esteemed by his contemporaries, who praised his ability to astonish through a naturalistic precision of rare intensity.

Featuring more than fifty works, the exhibition traces the birth of a new pictorial language in mid-seventeenth-century Venice. A language that reinterprets Baroque themes in a highly personal way, choosing unusual iconographies and an acute observation of reality to create images suspended between wonder, truth, and enigma.

Where: Gallerie dell’Accademia, Calle della Carità
When: Until January 16, 2026

Le Stanze della Fotografia host a major retrospective dedicated to Robert Mapplethorpe, one of the leading (and in many ways still controversial) figures in international photography.

The exhibition, Robert Mapplethorpe. The Forms of the Classical, is organized by Marsilio Arte and Fondazione Giorgio Cini in collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New York, bringing to Venice a body of work that engages with art history in a way few contemporary languages can.

Curated by Denis Curti, artistic director of Le Stanze della Fotografia, the exhibition brings together more than two hundred works, some of them presented in Italy for the very first time. It is a journey that celebrates Mapplethorpe’s formal perfection, his ability to transform the human body, flowers, and the simplest objects into icons sculpted by light. Each image is a meeting point between compositional rigor and sensuality, a balance in which photography enters into dialogue with ancient sculpture and the ideal of classical beauty.

The retrospective highlights the timeless force of his nudes, the almost metaphysical delicacy of his famed flowers, and the extraordinary precision with which he constructed every gesture and pose.

Where: Le Stanze della Fotografia, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
When: Until January 6, 2026