The Venice Glass Week 2026: Dates, Exhibitions & Murano Illumina il Mondo
In brief: The Venice Glass Week is Venice’s international glass festival. The tenth edition runs from 12 to 20 September 2026 across Venice, Murano and Mestre, with more than 200 individual events: exhibitions, installations, talks, guided tours and open furnaces. Most of it is free to enter. The two central exhibitions are the HUB by Generali at Palazzo Morosini (a new venue this year, 50 established artists) and the HUB Under35 at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa gallery on St Mark’s Square. The flagship is Murano Illumina il Mondo: twelve new light installations under the arcades of the Procuratie Vecchie, from 13 September to 1 November 2026.
Dates and venues at a glance
| What | When | Where | Admission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Festival overall | 12–20 September 2026 | Venice, Murano, Mestre | mostly free |
| HUB by Generali (over 35) | 12–20 Sept, daily 10:00–18:00 | Palazzo Morosini, Campo Santo Stefano, San Marco 2803 | free, no booking |
| HUB Under35 | 12–20 Sept, daily 11:00–18:00 (12 Sept from 14:00) | Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Piazza San Marco 71/C | free, no booking |
| Murano Illumina il Mondo | 13 September – 1 November 2026 | Procuratie Vecchie, Piazza San Marco | free, outdoors |
Both HUB exhibitions are wheelchair accessible and staffed in Italian and English. The remaining 200 or so programme items are spread across galleries, glass furnaces, museums and institutions, each with its own opening hours; some workshops and tours require booking or charge a fee.
What the Venice Glass Week actually is
The festival was founded in 2017 and is run by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. The reason behind it was concrete: Murano’s glass industry had been under pressure for decades — from cheap imports, rising energy costs and a shortage of young people entering the furnaces. The Glass Week was created not to turn the craft into a museum piece but to make it visible as a living, artistically relevant discipline.
That is what separates it from a trade fair. The focus is on exhibitions of contemporary glass art, on collaborations between international artists and Murano masters, and on access to workshops that are otherwise closed. The tenth edition adds a stocktaking exercise: the study “The Venice Glass Week and the Murano Glass District”, produced by Banca Ifis, examines Murano’s present-day role as a production and cultural district and the impact the festival has had over its first decade.
The two HUB exhibitions
The HUBs are group shows selected by jury from an international open call. Together they give the best available cross-section of current work in glass — the most rewarding stop if your time is limited.
HUB by Generali — new at Palazzo Morosini
The most significant change in the anniversary edition: the exhibition for established artists aged over 35 moves to Palazzo Morosini on Campo Santo Stefano (San Marco 2803), placing the show for the first time in a historic palazzo on one of the city’s largest squares. Works by 50 artists from around the world are on display. Open daily 10:00 to 18:00, free, no booking required.
Getting there: Campo Santo Stefano sits between the Accademia bridge and Campo Sant’Angelo — about ten minutes on foot from St Mark’s Square, five from the Accademia vaporetto stop.
HUB Under35 — on St Mark’s Square
The show for emerging artists under 35 stays where it has always been: in the gallery of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa directly on Piazza San Marco (no. 71/C). Open daily 11:00 to 18:00 — on the opening day, 12 September, only from 14:00. Free entry.
This is the more experimental of the two: less polished technique, more conceptual risk. If you are interested in where the material is going rather than in mastery of the classical repertoire, start here.
Murano Illumina il Mondo — twelve chandeliers on St Mark’s Square
The flagship of the tenth edition runs from 13 September to 1 November 2026, seven weeks longer than the festival itself. Twelve new light installations hang under the arcades of the Procuratie Vecchie — each an independent take on the Venetian form par excellence: the chandelier.
The principle is what makes it interesting. Every piece was made by an internationally working artist, architect or designer in collaboration with a named Murano furnace and a named master glassmaker. The selection was made by a curatorial committee of Rosa Barovier Mentasti (glass historian), David Landau (Pentagram Stiftung), Chiara Squarcina (Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia), Sarah Nichols and Jean-Luc Olivié, Luca Massimo Barbero (Fondazione Giorgio Cini) and Giordana Naccari. Production coordination between artists and furnaces was handled by Matteo Silverio.
| Work | Artist / studio | Master & furnace |
|---|---|---|
| Hand under hand | Arthur Duff | Nicola Moretti & Stefano Bullo — Nicola Moretti Murano / Vetrate Artistiche Murano |
| G=A=R=L=A=N=D | Cerith Wyn Evans | Jacob Noack — NEON Line & Idea Murano |
| Venetian Chandelier | Norman Foster Foundation | Salviati |
| Julia | Xavier Le Normand | Davide Donà & Mario Zane — Componenti Donà |
| Ripple | AL_A with Afaconsult | Diego Ferro — Yalos Murano |
| Passaggi | Felekşan Onar | Giorgio Giuman — Vetreria Artigiana Giuman; cold working Alessandro Mandruzzato |
| Angels save Venice | Chiara Dynys | Gianni Seguso — Seguso Gianni |
| Tubi or not tubi | Pierre Charpin | Simone Cenedese — Simone Cenedese Murano |
| PAX eT BONUM | Tristano di Robilant | Andrea Salvagno — Vetreria Anfora |
| Taiko | Bethan Laura Wood | Matteo Tagliapietra — GAMBARO&TAGLIAPIETRA |
| Anythink | Richard Meitner | Roberto Beltrami — Wave Murano Glass |
| Halo | ISS Abate Zanetti & Eros Raffael | Eros Raffael — ISS Abate Zanetti |
Four works worth the detour
- Hand under hand (Arthur Duff): nineteen overlapping glass slabs, each in the shape of an open hand, crossed by light filtering through colour layers fused at high temperature. The repeated hand stands for the transmission of skill between generations — the most direct homage to Murano’s workshop culture in the series.
- G=A=R=L=A=N=D (Cerith Wyn Evans): a chandelier modelled on the ship-shaped Rezzonico type, circled by a garland of glowing krypton characters. The Japanese ideograms evoke stars, waves, flowers and currents; glass and neon hold an unusually fragile balance.
- Venetian Chandelier (Norman Foster Foundation): the British architect’s foundation reinterprets the Venetian chandelier — organic arms terminating in blown-glass light elements. Glass is deliberately treated as both structural and expressive material.
- Anythink (Richard Meitner): white opaline glass combined with a programmable LED system. The colour transitions shift in controlled sequence, so the object is never twice the same — technically the most contemporary work of the group.
Best time to see it: the installations hang in a covered arcade and are accessible all day, but they only come into their own after dark. In September nightfall is around 19:45, by late October around 17:30. An evening visit gets you both the light and a far thinner crowd on the square.
What else is on the programme
Over 200 items cannot be listed usefully — but they fall into recurring categories, and those help with planning:
- Exhibitions in galleries and palazzi — the largest block by number, spread across the sestieri of San Marco, Dorsoduro and San Polo. Almost always free.
- Open furnaces on Murano — the real difference from the rest of the year: workshops that normally admit no visitors open their furnaces during the festival week. If you want to watch glass being made without ending up in a sales demonstration, this is the best opportunity of the year.
- Museums and institutions — the Museo del Vetro on Murano, Le Stanze del Vetro on San Giorgio Maggiore, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Fondazione Musei Civici all contribute their own programmes.
- Talks, tours and workshops — worth checking in detail: some require registration, and hands-on courses charge a fee and sell out early.
The full day-by-day programme with map is published by the organiser at theveniceglassweek.com.
The festival prizes
Several awards close each edition — a good indicator of which contributions stood out professionally. In 2025 they went to:
- Premio Fondazione di Venezia (fifth edition) to the Giorgio Mastinu Gallery for the exhibition Ronan Bouroullec, Inchiostri, with two special mentions to Marignana Arte and to Antonio Dei Rossi / Luca Giannola.
- Premio Arterìa per The Venice Glass Week HUB (first edition) to Clare Belfrage for In The Glow Of Green, Collection.
- Premio The Studio – Corning Museum of Glass for the HUB Under35 to Florian van Dalen, together with a study residency at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York State.
The 2026 winners will only be announced at the end of the festival.
Getting there and planning your day
- To St Mark’s Square (both HUBs, Murano Illumina il Mondo): vaporetto lines 1 and 2 along the Grand Canal, or 4.1/4.2 and 5.1/5.2 around the outside. For Palazzo Morosini the nearest stops are Accademia and Sant’Angelo. → Vaporetto Venice — tickets and lines
- To Murano: line 3 from Piazzale Roma and Ferrovia is the fastest, line 12 from Fondamente Nove, plus 4.1/4.2. From Fondamente Nove the crossing takes a good ten minutes.
- Realistic timing: both HUBs including the walk between them, roughly two hours. An afternoon on Murano with two or three open furnaces, another three to four hours. To do both in one day, start at nine.
- Access fee: the 2026 trial period ended in late July — no access contribution is charged for visiting the old town in September. The applicable days for 2027 have not been published yet.
- Crowds: the first festival weekend (12/13 September) overlaps with the closing of the Film Festival, so the city is noticeably fuller. The following weekdays are the quieter choice.
Is it worth it for you?
| Your situation | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| You are in Venice in September anyway | Definitely go. Both HUBs cost nothing, sit centrally and can be done in two hours. Few things in the city offer a better return on time. |
| You are interested in craft and design | A reason to travel in itself. Contemporary glass art combined with open workshops exists in this density only during this week. |
| You want to watch glass being made | On Murano, during the festival week. The year-round demonstrations for day groups usually end in a showroom — the festival openings are the opposite. |
| You are travelling with children | Partly. The HUB exhibitions are quiet gallery spaces. The light installations on St Mark’s Square, on the other hand, work at any age — especially after dark. → Venice with kids |
| You are only coming in October | Murano Illumina il Mondo continues until 1 November. The festival itself will be over; the twelve installations on St Mark’s Square remain. |
| You expect a glass market to shop at | Wrong expectation. This is an art and culture festival, not a sales event. For buying, the shops on Murano and in San Marco are the right address all year round. |
Frequently asked questions
When does the Venice Glass Week 2026 take place?
From 12 to 20 September 2026. It is the tenth edition of the festival, which was founded in 2017. The venues are Venice, the glass island of Murano and Mestre on the mainland.
Does the Venice Glass Week charge admission?
Most of the programme is free, including both central HUB exhibitions and the light installations on St Mark’s Square, and no booking is needed for them. Individual workshops, hands-on courses and some guided tours require registration or charge a fee — this is stated in the organiser’s detailed programme.
Where are the main exhibitions?
The HUB by Generali for established artists over 35 is at Palazzo Morosini on Campo Santo Stefano (San Marco 2803) for the first time in 2026, open daily 10:00 to 18:00. The HUB Under35 for younger artists is in the gallery of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa on Piazza San Marco 71/C, open daily 11:00 to 18:00, and on 12 September only from 14:00. Both are free and wheelchair accessible.
What is Murano Illumina il Mondo?
The festival’s flagship: twelve new light installations under the arcades of the Procuratie Vecchie on St Mark’s Square, each created by international artists and designers working with a Murano furnace. The fourth edition runs from 13 September to 1 November 2026, is free and outdoors. The installations are at their most effective after dark.
Can you visit glass furnaces on Murano during the festival?
Yes, and it is one of the main reasons to come. During the festival week, workshops that otherwise admit no visitors open their furnaces. This differs markedly from the year-round demonstrations for day groups, which usually end in a showroom. Which furnaces open when is listed in the detailed programme — allow half a day for Murano.
Do I have to pay the access contribution in September?
No. The trial period for the access contribution ended in late July 2026, so no fee applies for visiting the old town in September. The city has not yet published which days will apply in 2027.
Is it worth visiting without any background in glass art?
Yes. The installations on St Mark’s Square work purely visually and need no explanation. In the HUB exhibitions it helps to pay attention to how things are made: nearly every piece names the furnace that produced it, and the interplay between artistic design and craft execution is the real thread running through the festival.
Sources
- The Venice Glass Week — official festival site, programme and dates: theveniceglassweek.com
- Murano Illumina il Mondo 2026 — list of works, artists and furnaces: theveniceglassweek.com/murano-illumina-il-mondo-2026
- HUB by Generali and HUB Under35 — opening hours and addresses: organiser information
- Prizes of the 2025 edition: theveniceglassweek.com/prizes
Last checked: 26 August 2026. The day-by-day programme of more than 200 individual events can change at short notice — check opening hours of individual exhibitions with the organiser before visiting.