Fattori 200: an exhibition, a city, a pictorial revolution

What if I told you that the sea, the land, and the light of Tuscany are about to tell you an extraordinary story? A story of golden fields, faces marked by hard work, spirited horses, and skies that seem endless.

This story has a specific name: Giovanni Fattori.

This year, 200 years after his birth, Livorno is celebrating him with an unmissable event.

Giovanni Fattori Bicentennial

From 6 September 2025 to 11 January 2026, Villa Mimbelli reopens its doors with a major exhibition dedicated to one of the most important Italian painters of the nineteenth century: Giovanni Fattori. A revolution in painting. A unique opportunity to see over 200 works, including paintings, drawings and etchings, many of which are rarely exhibited.

Fattori, the artist who reinvented Italian painting

The exhibition is curated by art historian Vincenzo Farinella, who recounts Fattori’s double revolution: first as a protagonist of artistic renewal with the Macchiaioli, then as a visionary master capable of breaking academic rules even in his maturity.

The term “revolution” may seem exaggerated, but once you enter the exhibition rooms, you will understand that it is not at all. With a few strokes and deep observation, Fattori transformed everyday scenes and historical subjects into true manifestos of authenticity. He made nature and man the protagonists of an art that still moves us today, without special effects but with a silent and lasting power.

Stains, colours and humanity

Strolling through the rooms of the newly restored Villa Mimbelli, you will encounter waves and sun-drenched landscapes, soldiers of the Risorgimento, women bent over in the fields, monumental oxen, wrinkled faces and skies that seem to speak. Fattori’s painting conveys the heat of summer, the slowness of time and the dignity of hard work, without ever succumbing to rhetoric.

You will almost feel like you can smell the hay or hear the wind rustling through the dunes. And if you love technical details, you will also be enchanted by the etchings, small graphic wonders that show how well the artist knew how to play with space and light.

An exhibition, a city

Fattori’s bicentenary does not end with this exhibition. The W FATTORI project transforms Livorno into a veritable cultural stage. In addition to the reopening of the “Giovanni Fattori” Civic Museum, the city offers an urban journey through art and memory, taking you through squares, streets, historic buildings and panoramas that inspired the master.

It is an invitation to discover (or rediscover) Fattori’s Livorno through an immersive experience that combines culture, tourism and participation.

Furthermore, if you love well-thought-out projects, you should know that the whole thing is accompanied by a catalogue published by Dario Cimorelli Editore and a series of events for the public that will enliven the exhibition period. One more reason to plan your visit.

Why you can’t miss this exhibition

Because it’s not every day that we celebrate the 200th anniversary of an artist who changed the way we look at the world.

Because Livorno has put together an ambitious, exciting and engaging project.

Above all, because this exhibition will make you want to slow down, take a closer look at your surroundings, and perhaps even see reality through different eyes.

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

Where: “Giovanni Fattori” Civic Museum, Villa Mimbelli – Livorno

When: from 6 September 2025 to 11 January 2026

Follow the project with the official hashtag #FATTORI200 and… see you in Livorno?