Hauser & Wirth has announced it will open a new location in Palermo, Sicily. This will be the gallery’s first Italian outpost. The mega-gallery currently operates 18 spaces worldwide.
“It is an honor and a privilege to have this opportunity to restore a site of such profound significance and beauty, and to create a new arts destination in a place renowned for cultural exchange throughout the centuries,” Iwan Wirth, gallery president, said in a statement sent to Artsy.
The expansion centers on the Palazzo Forcella De Seta, a 19th-century Neo-Gothic building on Palermo’s waterfront. The property carries a layered cultural history: It hosted the Manifesta 12 biennial in 2018 and previously housed Galleria Mediterranea, believed to be Palermo’s first private art gallery, between 1937 and 1940. The structure underwent changes in ownership in recent years, with portions offered for sale in 2020.
Hauser & Wirth first started exploring the site in 2023 and finalized the purchase in November of this year. The gallery acquired roughly 20,000 square feet of the property, including the piano nobile, or the main floor, which will serve as its exhibition gallery. The gallery will extend to two adjacent wings and a separate building for its offices. Further details have yet to be announced.
The timeline for development is still subject to government review. Because the palazzo is an officially protected historic monument, Italian law grants the Ministry of Culture and local authorities the right of public preemption, enabling them to assume the purchase under the same terms within a 60-day window.
The news comes shortly after Hauser & Wirth revealed additional plans for growth. In July 2025, the gallery announced its forthcoming space in Palo Alto, which is currently scheduled to open in spring 2026. This will become the gallery’s third in California—with two locations in Los Angeles—but its first in Northern California.
Hauser & Wirth noted that the Palermo project aligns with its track record of developing cultural sites while preserving historic architecture, citing prior initiatives in Somerset, England, Menorca, Spain, and downtown Los Angeles. Those locations have received multiple preservation honors, including the 2014 William Stansell Historic Buildings Award, the 2018 Los Angeles Conservancy Chair’s Award, and a 2021 European Heritage Award.
