Things to do/see/listen to in October 2026 Concerts, exhibitions, movies, and TV shows to brighten up the month of pumpkins.
October has arrived. Wardrobes are getting layered, playlists are turning melancholic, and suddenly everyone seems to have an opinion about witches, vampires, and ghosts. The days are getting shorter, temperatures are dropping, and the desire to go out is evenly split between a sweaty concert and the urge to become one with the sofa. Luckily, culture doesn't hibernate. Between the return of contemporary indie rock icons, a singer-songwriter ready to turn romantic failures into music, photographs that tell stories without words, and fiercely untamed female protagonists, October's cultural calendar has plenty to offer. At the cinema, we're in for eerie mansions and family secrets, while streaming platforms are bringing back witches, monsters, and other delightful human dysfunctions. In short, autumn may be grey, but at least our cultural agenda comes in every shade imaginable.
Things to do/see/listen to in October 2026
The exhibition: Jessica Lange – Turin
We're used to seeing her play troubled women, unsettling mothers, and characters who are decidedly larger than life. But Jessica Lange has another artistic identity, less familiar yet equally fascinating: that of a photographer. From October 7, the Sale Chiablese at the Royal Museums of Turin will host STILL IMAGE, a retrospective featuring more than 200 photographs that trace nearly thirty years of her visual research. Eight sections explore the world through a poetic, melancholic lens, far removed from Hollywood's penchant for spectacle. At the heart of the exhibition is Highway 61, the road that crosses the United States from Minnesota, the artist's home state, all the way to New Orleans. Through rural landscapes, black-and-white photographs, and seemingly insignificant details, Lange creates a portrait of a more intimate, forgotten America. The journey continues in Mexico, amid the celebrations of the Day of the Dead, and in the deserted streets of pandemic-era New York, captured in the series Deriva. There's also Freak Show, shot during the filming of American Horror Story, while the previously unseen sections Gesti, Paesaggi, and Presenze del passato explore body language, abandoned places, and the traces left behind by disasters. Completing the exhibition is Mondo, a collection of photographs taken in different countries. The result? A journey through memory, loneliness, and imperfect beauty, in which the actress proves that you don't necessarily have to stand in front of a camera to make a lasting impression.
The album: Dell’amore, il fallimento e altri passi di danza - Levante
Some people lock themselves indoors after a heartbreak, others get a new haircut, while others, like Levante, prefer to turn the whole disaster into an album. On October 9, the Sicilian singer-songwriter releases Dell’amore, il fallimento e altri passi di danza, a title that already sounds like the transcript of a therapy session that ended with an impromptu dance routine. Between complicated feelings, unmet expectations, and inevitable downfalls, Levante returns to her favourite territory: emotions, preferably without a happy ending. Her songwriting, always suspended between personal confession and ironic observation, is perfectly suited to exploring love beyond fairy tales and the picture-perfect relationships packaged for Instagram. Because falling in love is wonderful, sure, but even failure has its own rhythm. And if the heart can't keep time, at least the music can.
The concert: Fontaines D.C. - Casalecchio di Reno
From Ireland, with unease, Fontaines D.C. are returning to Italy on October 26 for a show at the Unipol Arena in Casalecchio di Reno, near Bologna. It will be the chance to hear Dopamine Chamber, their new album, live for the first time. The record is due out on October 16, just ten days before the band's Bologna concert. Following the raw urgency of Dogrel and the increasingly layered soundscapes of Romance, Grian Chatten's band continues to navigate a landscape of melancholy, tension, and experimentation. The album's title, which references the neurotransmitter associated with the brain's reward system, seems particularly fitting for a present in which we're all chasing our next hit of gratification, whether it's a like, a message, or perhaps just a new album to listen to obsessively. Opening the October 26 show will be Chalk, an Irish duo blending electronic music, industrial sounds, and post-punk. The result is a double bill bringing together two different expressions of Ireland's alternative music scene, promising to turn Bologna into a small capital of European rock, at least for one night. October also has a little something for fans of indie sleaze, with live shows from The Strokes and Babyshambles. Julian Casablancas and co. will take over the Unipol Arena in Casalecchio di Reno on October 17, while Pete Doherty's band returns to Italy on October 7 at the Orion in Ciampino, alongside Lowinsky, and on October 8 at Milan's Alcatraz. Also in Milan, at the Teatro Nazionale Italiana Assicurazioni, the one and only Erykah Badu will perform on October 19 and 20 with her project IMEHO – An Intimate Experience with Erykah Badu.
The film: Verity
Holidays in an isolated mansion are always a great idea, at least until you discover that the owners have a few skeletons in their closet. In Verity, the new psychological thriller directed by Michael Showalter and based on the novel by Colleen Hoover, Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett find themselves caught up in a story in which trusting anyone is decidedly ill-advised. Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer hired to complete the novel series of her colleague Verity Crawford, played by Hathaway, who has been left seriously injured following an accident. Invited to stay at the family's mansion, Lowen discovers an unpublished manuscript containing disturbing revelations about the Crawfords' lives. From that moment on, attraction, suspicion, and secrets send everything spiralling out of control. The film plays with the boundary between truth and lies, turning what initially appears to be a domestic drama into a psychological maze. Showalter, whose previous work includes The Big Sick and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, takes on considerably darker territory this time, while Hoover's adaptation brings one of her most controversial novels to the big screen. Get ready for a story in which the real plot twist might be discovering that you've been trusting the wrong person all along. And remember: apparently, true luxury isn't a house with a view, but knowing what's really going on inside it.
The TV Series: East of Eden
Dysfunctional families are a staple of television, but when Florence Pugh comes along to shake things up, things get considerably more interesting. On October 1, Netflix brings a new adaptation of East of Eden, the celebrated novel by John Steinbeck, to the screen, with the British actress taking on the role of Cathy Ames. Set in the early twentieth century, the story follows a family saga of rivalries, ambitions, and desires, with a protagonist who has absolutely no intention of playing by the rules. Cathy is an independent and ambiguous woman, capable of turning two brothers' lives upside down and influencing the fate of entire generations. Zoe Kazan's adaptation seeks to restore complexity to a character traditionally portrayed as a femme fatale, moving beyond the simplistic opposition between good and evil. Alongside Pugh, the cast includes Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist, in a story that weaves together female emancipation, power, and family relationships. Because even a hundred years ago, women who refused to behave as expected were already considered a problem. But October is, after all, the month of witches, pumpkins, and all those activities we'd normally avoid if we weren't as irresistibly drawn to horror as moths to a lightbulb. So why not celebrate by adding three supernatural series to our watchlist? First up is American Horror Story 13 (Disney+), followed by Carrie, yet another adaptation of Stephen King's novel, which returns to the screen as a new TV series on Prime Video on October 7. Finally, there's Yaga, the new series starring Hudson Williams and Carrie-Anne Moss, arriving on HBO Max on October 23. It brings together a private investigator, a Canadian coastal town, and the disappearance of a young heir. Because apparently, October wouldn't be October without a few mysteries, supernatural disturbances, and deeply unsettling people.
