Discover the cultural events of the first half of April 2025 in Venice with Venezia da Vivere, featuring meetings and fine craftsmanship
From Wednesday, April 2
- Incroci di civiltà – opening at 5:30 PM
Auditorium Santa Margherita – Emanuele Severino, Dorsoduro 3689, Campo Santa Margherita
From April 2 to 5
All events are free of charge with mandatory registration on the website
The 18th edition of the international literature festival, organized by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, opens with the participation of British writer Hanif Kureishi, who will be awarded the Incroci Prize – Civic Museums of Venice. On the same occasion, Brazilian publisher and writer Luiz Schwarcz will receive the Cesare De Michelis Prize for innovative publishing.
The festival, directed by Flavio Gregori, features twenty-six authors from nineteen countries in meetings dedicated to literature, culture, and the cross-pollination of languages.
- Arcifanfano, re dei matti
Malibran Theatre, Campiello del Teatro 5873
From April 2 to 5. The 11 AM performances on April 2, 3, and 4 are reserved for schools
Arcifanfano, re dei matti by Baldassare Galuppi is staged: a comic drama in three acts, with six allegorical characters – anger, avarice, pride, prodigality, reluctance, and joy – seeking asylum in the kingdom of the mad Arcifanfano.
This is the first time in recent years that the opera has been performed in Venice, based on a libretto by Carlo Goldoni and featuring music that debuted in 1750, thanks to the collaboration between the Fondazione Teatro La Fenice, the Academy of Fine Arts, and the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory.
The production is directed by Bepi Morassi, who recounts the project’s origin: the rediscovery of the libretto and the search for the original score – partially lost – reconstructed with Francesco Erle, who also serves as the orchestra conductor.
The production is curated by the School of Scenography and Costume of the Academy of Fine Arts, with sets by Matteo Corsi, costumes by Beatrice Raspanti, and light design by Andrea Benetello, in collaboration with the ABAVE Light Design course.
From Thursday, April 3, 2025
- Lunardelli Venezia. Matter and design – Master Artisans
Palazzo Venart Luxury Hotel, Calle Tron 1961
To book a visit to the exhibition: info.venart@ldchotels.com +39 041 5233784
Three exhibitions, three materials, three interpretations of Venetian savoir-faire. The Master Artisans cycle, curated by Venezia da Vivere, transforms Palazzo Venart Luxury Hotel into an exhibition space from April to October 2025. It begins on Thursday, April 3, with the exhibition dedicated to the Lunardelli Venezia atelier, which combines woodworking, design, and local production, working wood with glass, metal, and fabrics to tell the story of Venice through everyday objects and contemporary collections.
The exhibition displays creations that evoke the city and its landscape – from the Laguna line inspired by nature, to the Architettura line recalling the relationship between water and sky.
Following this, from May 13, the paper works of Anita Cerpelloni and, in conclusion, from October 21, the 150th anniversary of Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua.
Friday, April 4, 2025
- Waiting for the Biennale
Wilmotte Foundation Gallery, Fondamenta dell’Abbazia, Cannaregio 3560
From April 4 to May 4. Tuesday to Sunday: 10 AM – 1:30 PM / 2 PM – 6 PM, closed on Mondays
A tribute to the Venice Art Biennale, constructed through the photographic lens of those who have experienced it for decades. In collaboration with the Circolo Fotografico La Gondola and the Cameraphoto Agency by Vittorio Pavan, the exhibition sequences a series of black and white shots that recount the transformation of the art scene and its audience over time.
Pavilions, visitors, critics, gallery owners: faces and gestures that become a journey documenting, interpreting, and inviting a re-reading of the past to recognize the trajectories of the present.
- Gate of the Porta Magna of the Arsenale – Presentation of the restoration, at 12 PM
Campo de l’Arsenal
The monumental gate that closes the land entrance to the Arsenale returns to its former glory. Oxidation and metal expansion had affected the surfaces, fractured the decorations, and pushed the six iron grates decorated with bronze elements, created at the end of the seventeenth century and set between sculptures and columns above the access to the Arsenale Vecchio, against the stone.
The restoration – curated by master craftsman Alessandro Ervas for the metals and by UNISVE for the stonework – has reconstructed the balance between materials and structure. With a total cost of 145,000 euros, it was supported by Venetian Heritage with a contribution from Maison Dior.
The portal, dating back to around 1460, is among the first Renaissance examples in the lagoon. In 1692, the Republic enriched it to celebrate Francesco Morosini’s victories in the Peloponnese. Today, the gate recovers its role: a symbolic passage between the city and naval power, an architectural form that continues to speak to history.
- La commedia dell’arte. Dietro le quinte del contemporaneo tra musei, mercato e provocazioni, book presentation (Marsilio Editori – Series: Nodi), at 6:30 PM
Ca’ Giustinian, headquarters of the Venice Biennale, Calle del Ridotto 1359
Museums transformed into spectacle, curators in search of visibility, artists caught between activism and strategy. La commedia dell’arte is the new book by Luca Beatrice, who observes today’s art system with a semi-serious tone and a demystifying gaze.
It discusses political correctness, cancel culture, street art, public art, manifesto-exhibitions, and the decline of protest. For Beatrice, the artist is a comedian who observes and transfigures, and art should return to producing more works and fewer theories.
Speakers at the volume’s presentation include Andrea Bellini, director of the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva; Beatrice Buscaroli, art historian and co-curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 2009 Biennale; and Luigi Mascheroni, journalist. Introduced by Debora Rossi, head of the Historical Archives of the Biennale.
Wednesday, April 9 and repeat performance on April 16
- After Hours – film screening, at 7 PM
Multisala Rossini (Cinema 1), Salizzada de la Chiesa o del Teatro 3997
Martin Scorsese‘s cult film returns to the big screen – in a 4K restored version curated by Warner Bros – forty years after its release. The screening, introduced by Adriano De Grandis, is part of the Classici fuori Mostra 2025 series by the Venice Biennale.
Filmed in 1985, it is the story of an absurd and claustrophobic night in New York’s Soho. The protagonist, played by Griffin Dunne, is Paul Hackett, an ordinary office worker who, after meeting Marcy (Rosanna Arquette), falls into an urban vortex of unpredictable events, grotesque characters, and nocturnal paranoia.
A neurotic black comedy, built like a spiral with no exit, After Hours is a hallucinated journey into the hedonistic America of the eighties. With this independent film, Scorsese won two Spirit Awards – Best Film and Best Director – after a difficult season.
Thursday, April 10, 2025
- LA CRISI DEI FONDAMENTA – opening at 5:30 PM until April 30
Spazio Thetis, Calle Donà 2737/f
At Spazio Thetis, amidst the industrial architecture of the Arsenale, La crisi dei fondamenta opens, a solo exhibition by Domenico Silvestri. A visual reflection on the structural fragility of our time, amidst cultural ruptures, social fractures, and perceptual uncertainties.
The exhibition is realized in collaboration with the Paolo Rizzi ETS Cultural Association.
- Nuova guida sentimentale di Venezia. Zattere Edition – at 6 PM
Scuola Piccola Zattere, Fondamenta Zattere al Ponte Longo, Dorsoduro 1401
Luca Scarlini, writer and playwright, leads a performative walk along the Zattere, evoking characters and stories from his book published by Marsilio. During the event, drawings by Venetian artist Alvise Bittente, the volume’s illustrator, will be on display.
Tuesday 15, Wednesday 16, and Thursday 17 April
On the occasion of National Made in Italy Day, established by the Ministry of Made in Italy on the anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s birth, Venezia da Vivere presents Atelier Aperti. Intelligenza Artigianale, three days of meetings, visits, and appointments in ateliers, studios, and galleries to showcase the vitality of the city’s creative scene across design, craftsmanship, and contemporary art, in a living dialogue between generations, materials, and languages.
From April 15 to 17
How to participate: free access, some ateliers by appointment
Participants include artisan ateliers, galleries, and studios, including the network of historical excellence Alto Artigianato Venezia.
Program: coming soon to these pages
Official hashtag: #GiornataMadeInItaly2025
Article by Lucia Pecoraro.
Cover photo by Settimo Cannatella for Lunardelli Venezia.
