The cold season is almost at the door, the days are getting shorter, sometimes the rain does not make going outside very appealing, but… nonetheless Venice is no less enticing, on the contrary. The limning light enhances its ancient city mystique even further, thus the early mists and a few high-waters (now controlled by the Mose system), complete the scenography of a unique, timeless city.

But Venice is also more, an active town which produces an extraordinary number of events every year, thanks to its institutions and foundations, placing it amongst the European capitals of culture. Therefore, a calendar of greatly interesting events adds itself  all year round to its historic, artistic and natural assets (the lagoon, but also for instance the nearby Prosecco hills and the Dolomites are part of Unesco World Heritage), with art exhibitions, performances, cultural meetings and guided tours…

In November, it starts from the Civilizations Crossroads International Literature Festival, the format presented by the University of Ca’ Foscari, back again following a year of forced distancing. Its 14th edition, programmed from 3 to 6 November, will start at the prestigious headquarters of the Scuola Grande guild of San Rocco with New Yorker writer Nicole Krauss. Among the top attractions (until 21 November) there is then the International Architecture Exhibition promoted by The Venice Biennale. Spread amongst the central and the national pavilions at the Gardens of Castello and a vast area which was part of the ancient Arsenal, it is presenting its spectacular exhibition on a greatly topical theme: life on the planet in the near future. Developed over five major thematic areas, it features works by 112 participants, but also special projects and collateral exhibitions.

Contemporaneity is moreover represented by the exhibition on the winners of the Arte Laguna Prize set up in the suggestive venues inside the Northern Arsenal. Here, 240 works represent new trends in the  art world, touching on every facet of it.

It is countered by the great Venice 1600, births and rebirths exhibition. Presented at the Ducal Palace by the Venice City Museums, it represents the crowning event within the celebrations for Venice’s 1600 years. Its fascinating circuit through extraordinary artistic masterpieces runs throughout the city’s history, recalling triumphs and dominions, but also defeats and pestilences. From Venice, its history and its art, to depictions arriving from faraway continents, such as Africa and Oceania. 

Migrating Objects and Art and Power, respectively at the Collection Peggy Guggenheim and at Palazzo Franchetti, are two novel exhibitions which are respectively presenting a little-known part of the American patroness’s extraordinary art collection and a brand-new exhibition, promoted by the Ligabue Foundation, about power-symbol artifacts produced in Oceania between the 17th and the 19th century. 

In addition to those, also the the important anthological display on American sculptor and photographer Bruce Neuman at Punta della Dogana; the Stop Painting exhibition project by Peter Fischli created for Ca’ Corner della Regina, the headquarters of the Prada Foundation; the exhibition dedicated to the relationship between Campigli and the Etruscans, at palazzo Franchetti; the retrospective on Virgilio Guidi presented by the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation and the one on the photo-reporter Mario De Biasi’s work at the TreOci palace, plus, again for photography, the novel HyperVenezia photography project at Palazzo Grassi. 

Then there is the shows page. As it often happens, it opens with the La Fenice Grand Theatre, and, more particularly, with Fidelio, the only opera composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, presented on 20 November for the occasion of the new opera season’s “premiere”.

Additionally on the November billboard, some evenings by Musikamera, an evening with VenetoJazz, and one with ballet in tribute to Igor Stravinskj. Ballet too at the Malibran Theatre con two special evenings by VeneziainDanza with the young talents from the Paris Opéra. Prose is on stage instead at the Carlo Goldoni Resident Theatre with two plays, including Maria Callas. Letters and Memories, with Monica Bellucci. 

Seasonal opening as well for the small L’Avogaria Theatre, a core reference for the great Venetian theatre tradition. All of this, in the following pages.