Italy in images: Cortona On The Move, the festival that tells the story of the country, is back

From July 16 to November 1, 2026, Cortona hosts the sixteenth edition of Cortona On The Move, the international festival dedicated to contemporary photography. An event that, year after year, confirms this Tuscan town as one of the most interesting places in Italy for anyone who loves images, visual storytelling and new forms of narrative. The 2026 edition marks a new artistic direction under Renata Ferri, with a program centered on photography's ability to move people, question the present and open new perspectives on how we look at the world.

• Dates: July 16 – November 1, 2026
• Edition: 16th Artistic direction: Renata Ferri Theme: Beautiful Country
• Exhibitions: over 30, including solo shows, group shows and original projects

Beautiful Country: a visual atlas of Italy

This year's chosen theme is Beautiful Country, a curatorial project that invites viewers to look at Italy over recent decades through images, memories, landscapes and identities. The festival becomes a true visual atlas: a journey through the country, between wonder and disillusion, poetic storytelling and contemporary inquiry.

Peninsula: the project with Intesa Sanpaolo and Gallerie d'Italia

The program includes over thirty exhibitions, among solo shows, group shows, original projects and special commissions. Among these, Peninsula stands out, created in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo and Gallerie d'Italia, involving ten artists invited to engage with the physical and symbolic territories of the contemporary landscape.

OTM Academy and the new generations

Great attention is also devoted to education with the relaunch of OTM Academy, the project dedicated to photography schools. Selected students will have the opportunity to exhibit their work during the festival's opening and to connect with artists, curators, photo editors and industry professionals. Among the new features is also the Peninsula – nuovi autori italiani scholarship, which includes an artist residency in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Paris.

For those visiting Cortona in summer or autumn, Cortona On The Move is a valuable opportunity to experience the town through a different lens: not only as a historic and scenic destination, but as a meeting point between culture, photography and contemporary life.

Where to stay for the festival

Villa Santa Margherita is 400m from the center of Cortona, the ideal base for taking your time to explore the festival's more than thirty exhibitions. Discover our rooms and current offers.