I'm 43 – but I'm ma to feel like a dosr by younger gay men | Metro News

Contents:

• IL TURISMO LGBTQ | PUGLIA – ITALY’S GAY SUMMER PARADISE
• OUR 7 FAVOURE PLAC TO EXPERIENCE GAY ITALY
• A GAY ISLAND MUNY CREATED BY ITALY'S FASCISTS
• 10 COUNTRI WH THE BIGGT GAY POPULATNS THE WORLD
• GAY VENICE
• ATTU TOWARD GAY MEN AN ITALIAN SAMPLE: MASCULY AND SEXUAL ORIENTATN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
• I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN
• GAY PUGLIA | ONLY MEN SNA, CEGLIE MSAPI

IL TURISMO LGBTQ | PUGLIA – ITALY’S GAY SUMMER PARADISE

“Thanks to s clive and unequaled wele, Puglia has tablished self over time as one of the bt Italian gay statns… Whether you're lookg for clothg optnal, whe sand, remote sereny, or packed wh eye-ndy, disver your paradise. Gallipoli is another small charmg gay beach town, but unlike Sg or Fire Island, is not known for the party boy wild nightlife scene and more for s bety and e-as-you-are atmosphere”.

The Nomadic Boys - perhaps one of the bt known gay travel fluencers - rate Puglia as Europe’s 5th top gay statn for LGBTQ+ travelers after Sg, Mykonos, Tel Aviv and Gran Canaria.

OUR 7 FAVOURE PLAC TO EXPERIENCE GAY ITALY

On the face of LGBT Italy looks somewhat downbeat, but squt a ltle harr and you’ll soon fd a diverse range of gay venu suable for dancg, cisg and dulgg steamy sna meet-cut.

While gay-n bs are few and far between, most nightlife the town is to be nsired gay-iendly, wh Iso Gut Hoe holdg a great reputatn among the LGBTQ+ muny. Said to be one of the most gay-iendly ci the regn, Catania go hand hand wh Taorma for gay travellers seekg culture, herage and low-key partyg.

A btlg port cy ma famo by s proximy to Mount Etna and UNESCO-listed baroque archecture, Gay Catania attracts a young and dynamic crowd who breathe life to the old town wh rabow buntg and artsy muny spac. The climax for gay Sicily and the queer lendar arriv late June each year when gays and advot take to the streets for Catania Gay Pri Para.

A GAY ISLAND MUNY CREATED BY ITALY'S FASCISTS

As culture grows more liberal, the vibrancy of the gay muny grows wh , allowg for a sctive mix of gay dance parti, snas and cisg spots among the pal’s many cultural hotspots.

A beach day is also an optn while Rome; simply travel southwt for epic sunset views on goln sand beach, stoppg at Ostia, Anz, Sperlonga or wherever tak your your troductn to Gay Rome by fanng out east om the Colossm along Via San Gvanni, a social street led wh gay-iendly bars, clubs and rtrants. Align your vis wh the summer-long Gay Village ftival, one of the most important events the cy’s gay lendar which se Par l Nfeo and surroundg neighbourhoods bee overn wh LGBT street parti, live mic, performance art, film screengs and more.

On all other ocsns, start off any one of Rome’s highbrow cktail bars and microbreweri, lowerg the tone later on at an unrground fetish party, wild gay club or good ol’ fashned gay dis.

10 COUNTRI WH THE BIGGT GAY POPULATNS THE WORLD

Drawg parisons wh Mykonos and Sg, Torre l Lago is a beachsi town offerg lh landsp, gged ast and a ton of gay-iendly nightlife offergs to keep you by. Walk the promena to fd the village’s ma llectn of gay bars, pubs and clubs, an area which serv as both the lotn of the annual Mardi Gras event and gateway to the town’s biggt gay beach. MilanMol of the term ‘smopolan cy break’, Milan tops the lists of top gay Italy travel statns, thanks to s stat as the high-fashn pal of the world.

Home to the largt – not to mentn the most glamoro – gay muny the untry, Gay Milan offers a vibrant space for LGBTQ divas and fashnistas om all rners of the angl the cy centre nod to some era of archecture; be art nouve around Corso Magenta, ratnalism Piazza San Babila or the futuristic skyle shaped by the lik of Zaha Hadid and César Pelli. While much of the cy’s nightlife is gay-iendly, the clubs and bars around the Porta Venezia district are muny outposts that host nightly gay-themed events. To fd out about the next big gay event, pick up a ee py of Zerodue or Milano Pri magaz om stor and fés around town, readg more about the bt gay bars Milan has to offer wh our full Milan travel gui.

GAY VENICE

Dpe the gay muny here beg somewhat spread out leavg the party scene muted, the Gay Amalfi Coast shows self small nods of acceptance towards same-sex upl and offers romantic vatns for all. Leonardo Da Vci’s legacy Milan is well known and many historians agree that he was a gay artist leavg his mark many masterpiec of the cy, cludg The Last Supper, hoed by the refectory of the nvent of Santa Maria lle Grazie.

There are also many wonrful lser-known plac where an tert LGBTQ+ history uld lead you, such as Florence's Bargello Mm, which ntas an earlier Renaissance statue of David by the artist Donatello—the first ee-standg male nu sce Classil Antiquy, and a super-sexy homoerotic nu at that.

One of the most gay-iendly areas Southern Italy is Puglia, cludg the beachsi town of Gallipoli, which has recently bee a popular statn for LGBTQ+ lols. For travelers lookg to have fun one of Rome’s most betiful districts near the Colossm, Via San Gvanni Laterano, the so-lled Gay Street, is a mt: gay-iendly bars, clubs and rtrants all make for a social eveng. “If you love someone take them to Verona” is the Valente’s Day slogan for the cy of Romeo and Juliet, one of Italy’s most gay-iendly ci.

ATTU TOWARD GAY MEN AN ITALIAN SAMPLE: MASCULY AND SEXUAL ORIENTATN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Take a stroll to Piazza Bra to admire the Roman Amphheatre and on to the monumental San Zeno Altarpiece by Andrea Mantegna ntug to Porta Nuova, the historic center wh the elegant Lucla Cafe, a gay-iendly hang out and the perfect place for an aperif. The historil gay hangout Catania cy center is Via Alsi, around Nievki: a bar and an alternative rtrant which has been welg to LGBT people sce the ‘70s.

I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN

For over twenty years between late June and early July, the cy is flood by the lors of the rabow flag wh a seri of iativ crowng the tradnal Catania Gay Pri Para. Taorma is one of the most gay-iendly statns on Sicily, an ial statn year round, thanks to the d climate and the foc on fun, relaxatn and joie vivre as well as the warm hospaly of the Sicilian people.

They were held unr a prison regime - but some found life the untry's first openly gay muny a liberatg summer, tourists are drawn to the bety of a ty strg of rocky islands the jt recently a group of visors me to the Tremi archipelago not so much to enjoy the peace and lm of this remote place as to were gay, lbian and transgenr rights had e to hold a small ceremony durg which they would mark a shameful episo that unfold the islands more than 70 years the late 1930s the archipelago played a part the effort by Beno Msoli's Fascists to supprs homosexualy. So the Italians are strong, mascule, and 's impossible that homosexualy n exist a Fascist regime, " says profsor of history at the Universy of Bergamo, Lorenzo the strategy was to ver up the issue as much as discrimatory laws were passed. But a climate was created which open maniftatns of homosexualy uld be vigoroly one particular police prefect the Sicilian cy of Catania took full advantage of the official mood.

They eventually found themselv about 600km away on the island of San Domo, the ptn, The 2008 graphic novel In Italia Sono Tutti Maschi tells the story of gay people exiled unr fascismThe whole episo has been largely 's thought that nobody who endured this punishment is still alive today, and there are few tailed acunts of what went on their book, The Island and the Cy, rearchers Gianan Goretti and Tommaso Giartosi talk of dozens of men, most but not all om Catania, endurg harsh ndns on San would arrive handcuffed, and then be hoed large, spartan dormori wh no electricy or nng water. "The prisoners knew the exposure of their homosexualy would have ed shame and anguish for their fai back home eply nservative towns and of that mood is ptured a letter om the son of a Sicilian peasant, who had been trag to be a prit when he was round up.

GAY PUGLIA | ONLY MEN SNA, CEGLIE MSAPI

For the first time their liv, the men were a place where they uld be themselv - ee of the stigma that normally surround them voutly Catholic 1930s this meant to the exil was explaed a rare terview wh a San Domo veteran, named only as Gieppe B - published many years ago the gay magaze, Babilonia - who said that a way the men were better off on the island. "In those days if you were a femmella [a slang Italian word for a gay man] you uldn't even leave your home, or make yourself noticed - the police would arrt you, " he said of his home town near Napl.

Some prisoners wept, Gieppe said, when the outbreak of World War II 1939 led to the end of the ternal exile regime on San Domo, and the men were returned to a kd of hoe arrt the plac where they me ptn, Tremi/MPA number of gay men were terned along wh polil prisoners on other small islands, such as Usti and Lampsa, but San Domo was the only one where all the exil were is eply ironic that the Italy of that time, they uld fd a gree of eedom only on a prison party of gay and lbian rights activists who gathered on the archipelago the other day put down a plaque memory of the exil.

"This is necsary, bee nobody speaks of what happened those years, " said one of the activists, Ivan Slfarotto, a Member of the sufferg hasn't end for Italy's gay muny, he says. There is still no real social stigma attached to homophobia Italy, Slfarotto says, and the state don't extend legal rights of any kd to gay or lbian stggle for equaly go n follow the Magaze on Twter and on Facebook. LGBTQIA+ travellers are those who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (a more clive LGBT ialism), pl queer or qutng, tersex or asexual dividuals, as well as those who intify beyond the monly ed sexualy and genr exprsns.

Homosexualy is much more accepted the north than the south; however, tourist hotspots, such as Capri and Taorma Sicily, are well-known as LGBT-iendly. The neighbourhood of Porta Venezia is regnised as the heart of Milan’s queer culture, wh Lec Street and San Marti Street havg many optns for gay-iendly bars and clubs, cludg Lecilano.

Photograph: Ricrdo Antimiani/EPAAttempts by var ernments over the past three s to enshre gay rights law have eher been stifled or sabotaged.

Fabriz Marrazzo, a spokperson for Gay Centre, a Rome-based associatn, said received about 20, 000 reports of discrimatn agast LGBT people a year, of which about 9% are severe.

Alsandro Zan, a gay polician wh the Democratic party, part of the lg aln, and archect of the draft legislatn, was threatened wh ath by an onle opponent unls he whdrew the bill.

Another Sicily who opposed the law said durg a sermon: “If you exprs an opn agast homosexuals, or don’t agree wh two men adoptg a child, you uld end up jail.