What to do in Venice in October 2025: the top 10 events

October 2025 is one of the most fascinating months to experience Venice. The days are bathed in golden light, the streets are a little emptier than in summer, and the city reveals itself in a more intimate and authentic way. But don't think that the lagoon falls asleep: on the contrary, Venice comes alive with extraordinary events.

From the Biennale to major exhibitions, from concerts at La Fenice to food and wine festivals, film festivals and traditional events on the water, October is a month that offers unforgettable experiences. In this guide, we have compiled a list of the 10 events not to be missed in Venice in October 2025, selected for their variety and interest: a mix that will appeal to you whether you are looking for art and culture or love music, tradition, or popular atmospheres.

Autumn in Venice is pure poetry. The days grow shorter, but the light becomes warmer and more intense, the reflections on the water take on coppery hues, and the streets become quieter and more welcoming. There are no summer crowds, but a Venice that can be enjoyed calmly, with strolls in St. Mark's Square, visits to museums without long queues, and stops at bacari to taste cicchetti accompanied by a glass of wine. Venice, in fact, is a city to be experienced between sunset and sunrise.

October is also the perfect month to take part in events: from opera to regattas, from food festivals to major exhibitions, the calendar is packed. This is the time when Venetians rediscover the pleasure of living in their city and travelers can blend into local life without too much hustle and bustle. Here are the 10 unmissable events in Venice in October 2025, chosen to offer a complete and unforgettable experience.

This guide to events in Venice in October 2025 is not just a list, but a real journey through the most iconic places and secret corners of the city. From the La Fenice Theater to the streets lit up by art exhibitions, from the palaces hosting cultural events to the islands of the lagoon with their most authentic events, October becomes an invitation to discover Venice with different eyes. Ready to go?

From October 10 to 20, 2025, Venice will be transformed into a major jazz capital thanks to the Venice Jazz Festival, one of the most eagerly awaited events for international music lovers. It's not just about concerts, but real sound experiences that blend the soul of the city with the overwhelming rhythm of jazz. If you're a fan or curious to discover the world of jazz, you've found the perfect event!

The magic of the festival also comes from the locations that host it: the big names on the world stage will perform at the Teatro La Fenice, an authentic temple of classical music, which for the occasion opens its doors to the most elegant jazz improvisations. For those seeking a more intimate atmosphere, the Sale Apollinee della Fenice offer a cozy setting, ideal for performances where every note goes straight to the heart.

But Venice offers even more surprising settings: at the Auditorium Lo Squero, on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, concerts are held with the lagoon in the background, transforming the sunset into a natural backdrop that dialogues with the sounds of the instruments. There is also the historical charm of the Teatro Goldoni, which will host energetic and refined performances, such as that of the Bollani & Gurtu duo, capable of combining tradition and experimentation. In addition to the most famous stages, the festival also spreads to the city's clubs and jazz bars, creating a network of events that enliven the streets, courtyards, and squares with spontaneous and engaging jam sessions.

The Venice Jazz Festival is much more than just a calendar of concerts: it is an invitation to experience Venice in a different way, letting yourself be guided by the sound that echoes through the canals and resonates in historic theaters, on a musical journey that combines elegance, intimacy, and pure creative energy.

October 10-20, Venice, theaters

Until November 23, Venice is hosting one of the most important events on the global calendar: the Architecture Biennale. The Giardini and Arsenale are transformed into a place of reflection and perspective for architects, urban planners, clients, and curious visitors.

Immersive installations, national pavilions, and site-specific works enliven the city in a debate in which Venice itself becomes part of the project. In October, with the summer crowds now thinned out, the pace becomes more contemplative: there is time and space to be surprised, to observe closely the design geometries, the ideas on sustainability, and the relationship between the new and the old. Each pavilion is a story, each work an invitation to think about tomorrow as you stroll through the streets.

Dates and location: until November 23, 2025, Giardini and Arsenale.

Venice, with its historic buildings and spaces suspended between water and sky, becomes the ideal stage for the Venice Design Biennial, which returns in 2025 with a new edition dedicated to the dialogue between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary innovation. The event is not limited to exhibiting design objects: it transforms the city into a widespread laboratory, opening spaces normally inaccessible to the public, such as private palaces, warehouses, and ancient workshops. Here, international designers and emerging young talents meet, offering visitors an experience that goes beyond a simple exhibition: it is a journey into the creative soul of the city. 

The program includes thematic exhibitions, site-specific installations, workshops, and conferences with industry experts. Particular attention is paid to the theme of sustainability, with projects exploring innovative materials, creative recycling, and new forms of responsible production. Walking around Venice during these days means encountering immersive experiences that bring the ancient techniques of Murano's master glassmakers into dialogue with the most daring experiments in contemporary design.

If you visit Venice in October, the Design Biennial is a unique opportunity to discover the city from a different, less touristy and more authentically creative perspective, breathing in the energy of an international community of artists and designers who choose the lagoon as their source of inspiration.

Event dates and location: October 11 – November 24, 2025, various venues throughout Venice

From October 11 to 25, the city resonates with avant-garde notes thanks to the International Festival of Contemporary Music. The Arsenale, the Teatro della Biennale, and other evocative locations become stages for sounds that challenge conventions: electronic music, reinvented folk, drones, and Afrofuturist performances. The historic setting amplifies the experimental dimension and introduces the audience to an immersive experience: you listen intently, discovering new soundscapes capable of dialoguing with a noble past. Readers, performers, and composers interact with the environment, transforming each concert into a meeting ground between tradition and the future.

You can find events for this Festival at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale and the Teatro alle Tese, as well as other venues such as the Tese dei Soppalchi, the Sale d'Armi, and the Sala delle Colonne - Ca' Giustinian, which have been used for previous editions.

Every day, the program will feature numerous daily events with international soloists and ensembles. 

Dates and location: October 11–25, 2025, Arsenale and other Biennale venues

The Venetian oar is an emblem of the lagoon tradition. Inextricably linked to the gondola, it is an object of worship, a fundamental tool for navigation and rowing. 

From October 16 to 19, Veleziana Sailing Week showcases the elegance of the Venetian oar with regattas featuring traditional boats, with their classic lines and perfectly at home in the calm waters of the lagoon.

The challenges take place between gondolini and voga veneta in a setting that combines sport, history, and conviviality in the small squares overlooking the water. It is not only a competitive event, but also a celebration: cheering, toasting, and stories between rowers and sailing masters make Venice even more alive, autumnal, and authentic. It is an event that grows every year and becomes increasingly popular. 

There will also be the Cooking Star event, which will see Michelin-starred chefs compete first at the helm and then in the kitchen, in an original gastronomic show at the Arsenale. 

Dates: October 16-19, 2025, Sailing clubs and canals (already part of the Boat Show).

From October 10 to 20, the Arsenale and other venues will host the contemporary photography festival: Venice Photo Days. Conferences, street photography exhibitions, technical workshops, and visual storytelling will alternate with installations and talks. The dialogue between images and spaces is an invitation to look at Venice with new eyes: to discover hidden details, faces, suspended reflections, stories suspended between water and stone.

The festival welcomes both emerging artists and established professionals, creating a dialogue between different perspectives that are united by the same aesthetic tension. Walking among the photographs means confronting your own time: observing the faces, atmospheres, and shadows of a city suspended between memory and the present. With technical workshops, talks on visual storytelling, and immersive installations, Venice Photo Lab offers an experience that nourishes the eye and opens the mind.

If you love reportage, portraiture, or art photography, or are curious to discover this world, this is an opportunity to see the city with a different, immersive, creative, and curious gaze.

Dates: October 10–20, 2025

Among the ancient streets of the city center, the charming Campiello di Campo San Maurizio comes alive every first weekend of October with the traditional Antiques Market, which this year will be held on October 3, 4, and 5, 2025. 

This market attracts collectors, nostalgics, and curious visitors, who are enchanted by the charm of the stalls set up between historic buildings: yellowed maps, vintage books, cameos, pocket watches, vintage Murano glass, prints, and small Art Deco objects. Strolling among the stalls is like exploring a small open-air museum, where every corner breathes history and every creation speaks of times gone by.

The atmosphere is intimate but vibrant, perfect for those seeking a moment of discovery between a ‘treasure trove’ find and a coffee in a nearby tavern. The exhibitors are often enthusiasts with stories to tell, ready to reveal the hidden value of each piece. On a clear October morning, with the silence broken only by the story of an antique dealer or the clinking of a medallion, this market becomes an emotional experience, a small urban ritual immersed in the Venetian genius loci.

Date and location: October 3–5, 2025, Campo San Maurizio, Venice.

The 39th Venice Marathon will take place on Sunday, October 26, 2025, offering athletes a breathtaking route between Riviera del Brenta, Mestre, and La Serenissima. It is a race with Bronze Label certification from the IAAF, which guarantees high technical and organizational standards. 

The route:

The marathon has a unique feature: it starts in front of the elegant Villa Pisani in Stra, surrounded by historic villas along the Riviera. From here, athletes cross the urban suburbs of Marghera and Mestre, then enter San Giuliano Park, an ideal green lung as an intermediate stage. After a stretch on the Ponte della Libertà — almost 4 km of straight road between the lagoon and the sky — they arrive in historic Venice. Competitors run along the Fondamenta delle Zattere, between water and stone, before crossing the Grand Canal via a temporary floating bridge built for the occasion. The heart of the city opens up with a short tour of St. Mark's Square (weather permitting, given the high tide), before crossing the finish line on the picturesque Riva dei Sette Martiri, overlooking St. Mark's Basin.

A race for everyone

In addition to the full marathon (42.195 km), the weekend also includes the Half Marathon (21 km), starting from Mestre, which follows the same city route. The 10 km race is a scenic run along the last sections of the main route, much loved for its landscape and accessibility. Family Run and other non-competitive races are designed for families and children, who can enjoy the atmosphere of the event in a light-hearted and festive way.

Race numbers can be collected on October 24 and 25 at the Expo Village in the Sport Village of San Giuliano Park (Mestre). The marathon is scheduled to start at 9:40 a.m., while the half marathon starts at 8:45 a.m. and the 10K at 8:00 a.m.

There will be eight refreshment points along the route, offering water, fruit, energy, and medical assistance. 

The organizers guarantee smooth running with the use of wooden ramps to cross the Venetian bridges and a mainly flat surface, although there are a few slight climbs between km 25 and 35. Shuttles are available to and from Venice and Mestre, as well as evening boats for the return journey from Giardini to Tronchetto.

Immersed in the suspended sacredness of the Church of San Lorenzo, between the Biennale Gardens, the Arsenale, and Piazza San Marco, lies Ocean Space, a center founded in 2019 thanks to the vision of TBA21–Academy, an institution that combines art, research, and environmental commitment.

Until November 2, 2025, the space is hosting the powerful exhibition “otras montañas, las que andan sueltas bajo el agua” (Other Mountains, Dissolved Underwater), curated by Yina Jiménez Suriel and animated by the works of Caribbean artists Nadia Huggins and Tessa Mars. In this enveloping context, the ocean is not just a theme, but becomes a perspective on existence, memory, and transformation. 

Entering the silent nave, visitors encounter Huggins' wooden installation, “A shipwreck is not a wreck”: a structure that evokes the carcass of a stranded boat, like a fossilized memory of the seabed. Inside, immersive videos project ethereal bodies, corals, and sea creatures. You don't observe, you experience: lying down among those images is like losing yourself in an oceanic breath. 

Next to it, Mars presents “A call to the ocean,” a layered painting that transforms canvases into metamorphic landscapes: liquid mountains, dissolving figures, dreamlike visions that whisper a fragile truth.

Ocean Space is not a passive exhibition, but a laboratory where art and activism meet. The public is invited to perceive the ocean from a non-anthropocentric point of view, to accept instability, to shift their gaze and imagine other forms of relationship with the marine world. The work becomes an instrument of creative disorientation, a push towards collective action, ecological reflection and shared care practices.

The mission of TBA21–Academy is fully revealed in this space: an invitation to integrate art, science, education, and activism in a Venice that resists on the water. The disused church thus becomes a temple of awareness, where art is method and narrative, where the sea is not just a metaphor but living matter that demands our attention.

To reach the various event locations, find out how to get around Venice. 

Practical information:

Location: Church of San Lorenzo, Campo San Lorenzo, Castello 5069, Venice

Hours: Open Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Accessibility: The space is also accessible to people with disabilities, with easy access from the San Zaccaria or Ospedale vaporetto stops.

Public program: Until November, Ocean Space also offers performances, workshops, free guided tours, talks, and open educational initiatives (no reservation required).

“Armonie in rosa – Seconda Edizione” (Harmonies in Pink – Second Edition) is a choral concert designed to celebrate and support women affected by breast cancer, promoted by the Associazione Trifoglio Rosa Mestre APS. Conducted by Marco Toso Borella, the Big Vocal Orchestra will perform a varied repertoire ranging from musicals to international pop-rock. The choice of name — Armonie in rosa — not only refers to the repertoire, but is also a symbol of solidarity, awareness, and rebirth.

The concert is part of the wider program of Ottobre Rosa (Pink October), a month dedicated to breast cancer prevention, a message shared thanks to the commitment of CentroMarca Banca as a project partner. Admission to the concert requires a ticket (available at the Teatro Toniolo box office and on Vivaticket), with proceeds going to the association's initiatives — a gesture of art that becomes concrete support.

Participating in this event is more than a musical experience: it is a moment of community, a collective embrace that resonates between the notes and the vocal excellence of the Big Vocal Orchestra. It sounds like a warm invitation to be part of a story of solidarity and hope, immersed in a welcoming theater that opens its doors to promote social commitment through culture.

Date: Sunday, October 5, 2025, 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Location: Teatro Toniolo, Piazzetta Battisti Cesare 10, Mestre (VE)