Cersaie returns to Bologna from 21 to 25 September 2026: news and scheduled events

Building, Living, Thinking and Café della Stampa

This year too, Cersaie confirms itself as a place for international discussion on the themes of architecture and design, with the calendar of meetings Building, Living, Thinking which features some of the most authoritative contemporary designers and important publishing companies in the sector:

• Infrastructure architectureWednesday 23 September at 10.30 am at The Square, in collaboration with THE PLAN, on the design of the new Line 2 of the Turin Metro, with UNStudio, Infra.To and Settanta7;
• Italian singularitiesWednesday 23 September at 2.30 pm at The Square, in collaboration with Casabella, with the participation of 13 Italian architecture firms;
• Lectio Magistralis by Alejandro Aravena, Thursday 24 September at 10.30 am at Palazzo dei Congressi, in collaboration with Interni;
• Conference by Annabelle Selldorf, Thursday 24 September at 2.00 pm at The Square, in collaboration with Platform;
• Reverse lesson with Francesco Faccin and Fulvio Irace, Friday 25 September at 10.30 am at Palazzo dei Congressi;
• AER Architettura Emilia Romagna, Friday 25 September at 10.30 am at The Square, in collaboration with the Emilia-Romagna Region

They are then foreseen, as part of the Café della Stampa (XI edition), 15 meetings – scheduled every day at 10.30, 12.00 and 15.00 in the Media Agora (Mall 29/30) – dedicated to the most current topics for design, architecture and urban planning and carried out in collaboration with the main Italian specialized publishing houses. The underlying theme of the 2026 edition is represented by the different ways of living, expressed every day through a specific theme:

• Living in design, between functionality and aesthetics;
• Living free time, dedicated to spaces for well-being and pleasure;
• Living in the house, with an eye on the evolution of the domestic environment;
• Living hospitality, focused on accommodation facilities and hospitality models;
• Abitare la città, dedicated to projects and interventions in urban space.

Career Day 2026

Then – on Thursday 24 September, at the former Modern Art Gallery of the Palazzo dei Congressi in Bologna – the event dedicated to the meeting between the new generations and the Italian ceramic industry, now in its third edition, also returns. There are 25 participating ceramic companies and paint factories, which will meet students and graduates through individual interviews.

Alongside the recruiting activities, the 2026 edition is enriched with a program of seminars dedicated to artificial intelligence, European projects for the ceramic sector and with an orientation workshop aimed at students in the fifth grade of secondary schools.

City of Installation and training for showroom workers

The beating heart of the pavilion entirely dedicated to the world of posing, sold out for the second year, will be the City of Installationwhere every day Assoposa offers technical demonstrations on large ceramic slabs, aimed at architects, engineers and surveyors. A large area is dedicated to the collaboration between Assoposa and Indexlab, with technological demonstrations dedicated to the innovation of ceramic installation processes.

This year too, the event will be covered by the radio station Casa Radio and ample space will be dedicated to Formedil, with a demo area animated by around ten young people a day, coming from Italian building schools. Finally, an area of ​​over 200 m2 will be set up for the initiative Cersaie World Tiling Labin which 6 teams of installers from Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Morocco, the United States and Brazil will try their hand at installing ceramic surfaces to create as many environments.

Cersaie 2026 also inaugurates a new training course dedicated to sales staff in Italian showrooms: in fact, during the five days of the event, Veronica Verona, founder of The Showroom Academywill hold a course dedicated to the sales techniques of premium products, advanced consultancy and product valorisation, with visits to the City of Installation to learn about peculiarities and suggestions. The initiative is carried out with the patronage of Confindustria Ceramica, ANGAISA, Federcomated and Assoposa.

Awards and winners 2026

There is also no shortage of prizes:

• XXIX Ceramics of Italy Journalism Award, organized in collaboration with MAECI and ICE Agency, which will be awarded – during the Ceramics of Italy International Press Conference (Tuesday 22 September at 6.00 pm at The Square) – to the best article published by the foreign press on Cersaie and on the Italian ceramic industry, together with the three honorable mentions;
• Tiler Award, which will be awarded on Wednesday 23 September at the Città della Posa, to the best Italian and foreign installer;
• XXIX Confindustria Ceramica Distributor Awards 2026, which will be awarded on Thursday 24 September – during the Cersaie Evening hosted at Palazzo Bevilacqua – to the best distributors in Italy, Croatia, France and Germany, distinguished for their consolidated collaborative relationship with the Italian ceramic industry;
• XX International Eng. Aldo Villa Award, which will be awarded by the Italian Ceramics Society on Thursday 24 September, in the Sala Italia of the Palazzo dei Congressi, to personalities who have particularly distinguished themselves in the world of ceramics, for their contribution to the development of the sector and for their commitment to innovation, competitiveness and the valorisation of Made in Italy;
• ADI awards (ADI Cersaie Design Award XII edition and ADI Exhibit Design Award VII edition), which will be awarded, at The Square, to the best products and stands of Cersaie 2026.

Cersaie Design Your Home

Finally, the initiative also returns Cersaie Design Your Home (13th edition) dedicated to private visitors who wish to renovate or buy a house. On Thursday 24 and Friday 25 September (Mall 29/30), the designers of 12 of the main Italian interior design publications will offer free personalized architectural and interior design consultancy, confirming the attention that Cersaie also reserves for end consumers.

For further information
cersaie.it