Art Nouveau Week 2026

The international Art Nouveau festival comes to Bolzano and the Renon plateau



From 8 to 14 July 2026, the eighth edition of "Art Nouveau Week" takes place, an international festival dedicated to the Art Nouveau style and decorative arts, organised by the Italia Liberty association and curated by Andrea Speziali. This year's theme is the sea. The programme involves more than 300 cities worldwide and, in Trentino-South Tyrol, brings guided tours to Bolzano, Castelrotto, Levico, Merano, the Renon plateau and Rovereto. Among these, the events closest to Bolzano take place in the city itself and on the nearby Renon plateau.



In Bolzano, on Saturday 11 July at 10:00 am, the guided tour "Traces of Art Nouveau, the Vienna Secession and Modernism in South Tyrol" takes place, a walk through the historic centre dedicated to the city's Art Nouveau and Secessionist heritage, including the Blue House of 1912, designed by architect Walter Norden, with its distinctive loggia and period decorations. The tour presents Bolzano as a cultural crossroads between the Italian and Austro-German worlds, where the Art Nouveau style arrived later than in other Italian cities but with great refinement, formal rigour and craftsmanship. Meeting point: Walther Square, at the foot of the monument to Walther von der Vogelweide. Duration: 2 hours.



On the Renon plateau, just a few minutes from Bolzano, the same type of guided tour, "Art Nouveau and elite summer holidays on the Renon plateau", is offered on three dates – 8, 12 and 14 July, always at 10:00 am – starting in Soprabolzano and ending in Collalbo aboard the historic 1907 Renon narrow-gauge train. Meeting point: Soprabolzano, upper station of the cable car. Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes.



Both tours are led by licensed tourist guides Maria Elisabetta Zerbetti and Christoph Ratschiegler and take place once a minimum quorum of 8 participants is reached, with mandatory booking by 5 July 2026.



Prices (per person):



Full rate 20€



Italia Liberty or Touring Club Italiano member 18€



Audio guide, for groups over 10 people 1.50€



Closed group of up to 30 people, full tour 200€



The programme in Trentino-South Tyrol also includes further dates in other locations of the region:



9 July – Levico, 5:00 pm – The Habsburg Park of Levico



10 July – Merano, 5:00 pm – Modernist elegance and beauty among the Alps



11 July – Castelrotto, 5:00 pm – Art Nouveau. Art, Architecture and Alpine Traditions



13 July – Rovereto, 10:00 am – Rovereto Liberty. Elegance and modernity between the 19th and 20th centuries



14 July – Castelrotto, 6:00 pm – On-site sketching (sketching en plein air)