1951
The government nominated the new Board of directors, the first since the war. Mostra del Cinema: Golden Lion to Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa, which revealed Japanese cinema to the West for the first time. The Premio Volpi was renewed, and from the following year was once more called the Coppa Volpi. The first winners were Jean Gabin and Vivien Leigh. At the International Festival of Contemporary Music, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress was given its world premiere.
1953
Mostra del Cinema: Golden Lion not awarded. Silver Lion to Fellini (I vitelloni), Mizoguchi, Carné, Huston.
1954
The island of San Giorgio provided the venue for the first Japanese N? theatre shows in Europe. Mostra del Cinema: in competition, La strada by Fellini (Silver Lion) and Senso by Visconti. Music Festival: world premiere of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw.
1955
Mostra del Cinema: Golden Lion to Ordet by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Music Festival: world premiere of Sergej Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel.
1956
At the Mostra del Cinema, the films were admitted to the competition following an artistic selection and no longer based upon the designation of the participating countries. World premiere of Canticum sacrum by Stravinsky in the Basilica di San Marco.
1957
On October 28, the government removed the Board of directors following protests on the part of the municipal council for the replacement of Rodolfo Pallucchini. Golden Lion to Satyait Ray's Aparajito which introduced Indian cinema to the West.
1958
The exhibition of Giovani artisti italiani e stranieri (Young Italian and foreign artists) was presented within the Art Exhibition that year. Baj, Crippa, Dorazio, Scanavino and Jasper Johns were exhibited. An award went to Chillida. Theatre Festival: a lively debate was provoked by the pièces of Eugène Ionesco and Samuel Beckett.
1959
Mostra del Cinema: Golden Lion ex aequo to Il generale Della Rovere by
Roberto Rossellini and La grande guerra by Mario Monicelli.