Our history
Cassero’s roots go back to Collettivo Frocialista (“Fag-alist Union”, a pun on the slur used mostly against gay men “frocio”, and the left-wing unions commonly formed at the time); it was founded in Bologna in 1977, in the context of students’ movements and promoted by Samuel Pinto, also known as Lola Puñales.
Collettivo Frocialista became Circolo Culturale 28 Giugno (June 28 th Cultural Group) in 1979, and it was the first gay association that received a public space as its base in Italy. Circolo Culturale 28 Giugno took up residence in Porta Saragozza’s Cassero, an important Bolognese crossroad for the hike towards Santuario della Madonna di San Luca (Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of Saint Luke).
That symbolic place became a mix of sacred and profane, supporters and opponents, where dialogue and clashes occurred until 2002, when the association – increasingly organized and structured, left Porta Saragozza for the Salara, where it kept fueling Bolognese LGBTI+ culture and history.
Explore the most important stages of our history!
1971
F.U.O.R.I! FOUNDATION
In the spring of 1971, F.U.O.R.I.! - Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano (Italian Homosexual Revolutionary United Front, and a pun on the Italian word for “out”) was founded in Turin. It was the first association in Italy for the homosexual liberation movement. It was founded by librarian Angelo Pezzana together with other activists; it was active and published a magazine of the same name until 1982.
APRIL 5 th 1972
SANREMO PROTEST
The first public gay event in Italy, and the foundational happening for Italian homosexual liberation movement, takes place in Sanremo. F.U.O.R.I.! and a small gathering of activists appear in front of Sanremo Casino to protest the “International congress on sexual deviance”, organized by the Catholic CIS – Centro Italiano di Sessuologia (Italian Center for Sexology). Nowadays, it’s remembered as the “Italian Stonewall”.
DECEMBER 19 th 1977
Collettivo Frocialista
In 1977 and following the wish of Chilean exile Samuel Pinto, also known with his battle name Lola Puñales, Bolognese Collettivo Frocialista is founded.
It gathers every Monday in a space it was offered by the Italian Socialist Party branch Treves, in Via Castiglione 24; because of this, that first group of activists defines itself as “frocialist”, a hybrid name highlighting the key terms: frocia (feminized version of the slur “frocio”, mostly used against gay men) and socialist!
It gathers every Monday in a space it was offered by the Italian Socialist Party branch Treves, in Via Castiglione 24; because of this, that first group of activists defines itself as “frocialist”, a hybrid name highlighting the key terms: frocia (feminized version of the slur “frocio”, mostly used against gay men) and socialist!
OCTOBER 22 nd 1979
Circolo Culturale 28 giugno
Circolo Culturale 28 Giugno (June 28 th Cultural Group) is founded, and it will be given a office by Bologna Municipality at Porta Saragozza’s Cassero: one of the doors in the third round of Bologna’s historical city walls. It’s going to be the first time a municipal administration gives a public space to a gay and lesbian association in Italy. The group will take part in the foundation of the national Association Arcigay in 1985, and take the name Circolo Arcigay Cassero.
AUGUST 1979
FIRST GAY CAMP
After the experience of the first international gay camping in Zakynthos, 1978, the first gay camp takes place in Italy. The event is organized by Felix Cossolo, director of the magazine Lambda, in Capo Rizzuto, Calabria; about a thousand people from all over Europe attend it. Rai (the National and publicly available TV and Radio agency) covers a gay event for the first time, and the event is so successful it is repeated the following year – still in Capo Rizzuto. They are the first of a series of camps organized in the following years, by Lambda and later Arcigay, in several locations across Italian peninsula.
Summer 1979
MIT FOUNDATION
MIT - Movimento Italiano Transessuali (Italian Transsexuals’ Movement) is founded by Pina Bonanno, as the first Italian association for the protection of trans people: its goal is obtaining the juridical recognition of sex change, eventually obtained with law 164, approved April 14 th 1982. Its first bases are in Turin, Milan, Florence and Rome. MIT Emilia-Romagna is founded in 1988, and then MIT Bologna will become the last active office in Italy. Its president and leader is Marcella Di Folco, who will be elected counselor for Bologna Municipality in 1995, and her successor will be Porpora Marcasciano in 2010. Its name changes in 2017 into Movimento Identità Transessuale (Transsexual Identity Movement) and then Movimento Identità Trans (Trans Identity Movement). Every year, MIT organizes Divergenti, the first international cinema festival dedicated to trans identity.
NOVEMBER 24 th 1979
PISA '79
Knowns as march against violence on homosexuals or Pisa ’79, the event is organized by Collettivo Omosessuale Orfeo (Orfeo Homosexual Union) as a protest against the general climate of violence against homosexual and transsexual people; this is a reaction to the murder of Dario Taddei, a gay man who was shot to death in Livorno. It’s considered as the first pride event in Italy that received authorization from a central police station, and was supported by a Municipality.
1980
Circolo Culturale Lesbico Tiaso
Circolo Culturale Lesbico Tiaso (Tiaso Lesbian Cultural Society) is founded in 1980 by Luki Massa and her partner at the time, Nadia Magrini, and is the first lesbian union in Bologna and among the first ones in Italy. Luki Massa’s intention was creating connections between women, and cultivate lesbian visibility in Italy. Luki Massa and the activists from Tiaso are part of the taking of Porta Saragozza’s Cassero in 1982, and it will become the base for the union. Among the activities it developed, the weekly radio program “In volo” (named after Kate Millet’s book Flying) was broadcasted for seven months between 1982 and 1983.
JUNE 27 th -29 th 1980
Giornate dell'Orgoglio Omosessuale
Giornate dell’Orgoglio Omosessuale (Homosexual Pride Days) take place thanks to the periodical Lambda and Circolo Culturale 28 Giugno. On this occasion, a delegation from Circolo is received by the major Renato Zangheri, who promises a base to the activists – a base that will eventually be Porta Saragozza’s Cassero. Afterwards, Neapolitan actor and activist Ciro Cascina gives a famous public kiss to the major to set off the long awaited conquest of a space.
OCTOBER 31 st 1980
GIARRE MURDER
In Vigna del Principe of Giarre, near Catania, the lifeless bodies of 25 years old Giorgio Agatino Giammona and 15 years old Antonio Galatola, also known as Toni, were found fourteen days after they had disappeared. The Giarre murder was clearly the result of a homophobic motive, and Italian public opinion has to face the existence of a discrimination problem against homosexual people in its society. This tragic event was a turning point for the Italian homosexual movement, and sparked the foundation, about one month later in Palermo, of the first Arcigay society.
DECEMBER 9 th 1980
ARCIGAY IN PALERMO
The first Arcigay society was founded in Palermo, after the mobilization sparked by the Giarre tragedy. Overseers of the initiative were Don Marco Bisceglia, an openly gay Catholic priest, Massimo Milani, Gino Campanella, and other activists. Shortly after, other Arci sections dedicated to gay culture became more common all over Italy. Arcigay wouldl become independent from Arci in 1985.
APRIL 14 th 1982
LAW 164 APPROVAL
After the intense mobilization of Movimento Italiano Transessuali and the Radical Party, law 164 was approved in Italy: it allows trans people to legally modify the gender they were assigned at birth, and register the change at the civil registry.
JUNE 26 th 1982
TAKING OF PORTA SARAGOZZA
After a two-years-long negotiation, Bologna Municipality approved the planned assignment of municipal locations to some associations, including Cassero for Circolo Culturale 28 Giugno. Protests from the city immediately sparked due to the historical and religious meaning of the monument, but they can’t stop the so-called “taking” of Porta Saragozza on June 26 th 1982: a procession of about three hundred activists arrived in Bologna from all over Italy, preceded by the banner “L’è mei un fiol leder che un fiol buson!” (Bolognese dialect for “Having a thief as a son is better than having a faggot as a son!”), entered Cassero for the first time. The official inauguration would only take place on December 19 th 1982, when the ribbon cutting ceremony was performed by Valery Taccarelli.
MARCH 2 nd -3 rd 1985
ARCIGAY NATIONAL FOUNDATION
During the national assembly in March 1985, it was decided local gay groups scattered throughout Italy should be unified and turned into a proper national organization. Beppe Ramina was elected as its president, and Franco Grillini as the secretary. The association established its national office in Bologna, at Porta Saragozza’s Cassero. Circolo Culturale 28 Giugno was among the supporters of the foundation of the association, and adhered to it renaming itself Circolo Arcigay Il Cassero: in its first year, the first congress in Bologna counted over 5 000 members.
1985
FIRST INFORMATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON AIDS
Nel 1985 il Cassero realizza la prima campagna a diffusione comunale sull'AIDS.
FEBRUARY 1990
Arcigay Donna
In November 1989, three hundred lesbian members of Arcigay met in Verona for the first big national meeting due to the need for lesbian politics that are visible and not separatist, but autonomous from that of gay men. This meeting resulted in the foundation of Arci Gay Donna (Arci Gay Woman) – non-separatist lesbian coordination, and the election of Graziella Bertozzo as national secretary during the fourth congress of the association in February 1990.
APRIL 25 th 1990
MONUMENT FOR HOMOSEXUAL VICTIMS OF NAZIFASCISM
The first Italian monument dedicated to the memory of homosexual victims of nazi-fascist racism was inaugurated in the park of Villa Cassarini, Porta Saragozza. Realized on suggestion from Arcigay to Bolognese municipal administration, and designed by architect Corrado Levi, it is a pink marble triangle that symbolizes the persecution of homosexuals, trapped in Third Reich lagers after 1933.
MARCH 27 th 1992
Blowing Bubbles
First Blowing Bubbles edition: a contest for HIV / AIDS themed short films. The starting idea for the project developed in 1991, thanks to the people active in the Documentation Center during that period. The festival is organized by Arcigay Il Casero – Centro di Documentazione, and later on by GASP! Gay contro l’AIDS per la salute e la prevenzione, Arcigay Nazionale, and the magazine CON\TATTO; it was held every year from 1992 through 2002. Artistic direction was managed by Alessandro Fullin and Maurizio De Martino in 1992 and 1993, then by Daniele Del Pozzo and his co-directors Andrea Novarin, in 1996, and Giampaolo Marzi, in 1997.
1994
The Italian Miss Alternative
From the creative vision of Stefano Casagrande, The Italian Miss Alternative is born: a beauty contest for young men and ladies whose heels are higher than their underwear, a fundraising event for the benefit of associations in the city fighting against AIDS. The event has been repeated every summer since 1994, at a different location within the city, and is animated by the models of Maison du Casserau, a couture workshop modeled after similar experiences in New York houses, that still tailors phantasmagorical clothes with recycled materials and cloth.
JULY 2 nd 1994
FIRST NATIONAL PRIDE
The first national Pride event was held in Rome, organized by Circolo di Cultura Omosessuale Mario Mieli. The procession started from Piazza Venezia and ended in Campo de’ Fiori; 20 000 people attended it, according to the press.
1995
G.A.S.P!
Thanks to Miss Alternative, G.A.S.P! - Gay contro l’Aids per la Salute e per la Prevenzione (Gays against Aids, and for Health and Prevention) is founded within Cassero.
1995
L.U.O
L.U.O - Libera Università Omosessuale (Free Homosexual University) started its activities: it was a workshop able to create an open dialogue with citizens about the concept of a gay and lesbian identity and culture. Its goal was to promoge cultural debate in a multidisciplinary perspective, from literature to performative arts, from law to history, with a creative-educational goal to encourage academic studies and research.
JULY 1 st 1995
NATIONAL PRIDE IN BOLOGNA
The national Pride event took place in Bologna for the first time, and 15 000 people attended it. After the parade, Walter Vitali (Bologna mayor) and Renzo Imbeni (European Parliament vice-president), both in favor of the recognition of same-sex couples’ rights, had a stage appearance. During the event, over 70 000 people signed for the approval of civil unions in the Parliament.
OCTOBER 1996
Arcilesbica
After the foundation of Arcigay Donna in February 1990, and its renaming into Arcigay Arcilesbica in 1994, Arcilesbica finally separated from Arcigay during the seventh national Arcigay congress in Rimini, October 1996: it became the first national Italian non-separatist lesbian association.
1997
Festival Cinema Gay e Lesbico in Bologna
The festival has its origin in 1985 Milan, from the show “Cinema & Omosessualità Europa/Usa percorsi e confronti” (Cinema and Omosexuality, Europe/USA paths and comparisons), and ù the 1986 festival “Uno sguardo diverso” (A different gaze) curated by CIG ArciGay Milano, Altro Martedì, Babilonia, and A.S.A. In 1993 the subtitle “Festival Internazionale di Cinema Gaylesbico” (International Gaylesbian Cinema Festival) was added, and in 1997, its 11 th edition, this became its official full name, until 2003 when it became the Festival Internazionale di Cinema Gaylesbico e Queer Culture (International Gaylesbian Cinema and Queer Culture Festival). From 1997 until 2002, the Festival was held in Cinema Lumière, Bologna, at the same time.
JULY 8 th 2000
World Pride in Rome
During the same year as the Great Jubilee, and opposed by the Vatican and some Italian politicians, the first historic World Pride was held in Rome. Between 300 000 and 500 000 people poured into Rome from all over the world. The idea of a huge Capitoline event during the Jubilee was launched by Franco Grillini in 1995, from the stage of Verona Pride. Later, Circolo di Cultura Omosessuale Mario Mieli, managed by Imma Battaglia at the
time, managed to get Epoa to assign it a base for 2000 Europride, renamed World Pride for the occasion. In the warm summer of 2000, World Pride was the only pride event that occurred in Italy. For that occasion, Cassero decides to provocatively close its offices for the first time to bring mass participation in Rome.
time, managed to get Epoa to assign it a base for 2000 Europride, renamed World Pride for the occasion. In the warm summer of 2000, World Pride was the only pride event that occurred in Italy. For that occasion, Cassero decides to provocatively close its offices for the first time to bring mass participation in Rome.
MARCH 2 nd 2002
CASSERO IN SALARA
After twenty years, the association left its historical base in Porta Saragozza’s Cassero by signing the agreement with the Municipality of Bologna to obtain its current offices, Salara: placed within Manifattura delle Arti (Arts Factory), a crossroad between the experiences of Cineteca di Bologna (Bologna Film Archive), Bologna University’s Dipartimento delle Arti, Musica e Spettacolo (Department of Arts, Music and Spectacle, aka DAMS) and Scienze della Comunicazione (Communication Sciences), and Mambo, Bologna’s contemporary arts museum.
NOVEMBER 18 th -23 rd 2003
Gender Bender Festival
The first edition of Gender Bender Festival took place: it is a Cassero-produced festival, starting from the basis of previous experiences with Festival Internazionale del Cinema Gaylesbico, Blowing Bubbles, and Libera Università Omosessuale. The festival, consistently organized each year since its inauguration, continues to offer artistic and cultural images tied to the body and gender, of both international and multidisciplinary scope.
JUNE 28 th 2008
NATIONAL PRIDE IN BOLOGNA
On June 28 th 2008, National Pride took place in Bologna. The official launch was on May 1 st with the photographic exposition “Bologna orgogliosa” (Proud Bologna) which recalls, through over a hundred photographic documents from the Documentation Center, thirty years of LGBTI+ events in the Emilian Regional County Seat. The exceptional sponsor is Margherita Hack, famous Italian astrophysicist and science popularizer, as well as honorary president of UAAR (Unione Atei Agnostici Razionalisti, Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics’ Union), who immediately accepted the invitation from the Pride Committee in the name of secularity, and in full agreement with the event’s political themes. Four years later, June 9 th 2012, Bologna would host National Pride again with a big event ending in Piazza Maggiore, in name of solidarity to the people involved in the earthquake that heavily affected Emilia-Romagna Region.
JUNE 11 th 2011
EUROPRIDE IN ROME
The second Italian Europride is held in Rome, organized by Circolo di cultura omosessuale Mario Mieli, Arcigay nazionale, Agedo, Famiglie arcobaleno, and MIT. A million people attend the parade and the concluding Lady Gaga concert in Circus Maximus.
MAY 20 th 2016
LAW ON CIVIL UNIONS IS APPROVED
On May 20 th 2016, President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella signed the law on civil unions between same-sex partners and common-law marriage, promoted by Partito Democratico senator Monica Cirinnà.
2018
Lesbiche Bologna
In 2018 Arcilesbica Bologna decided to stop its affiliation with Arcilesbica Nazionale, following Arcilesbica’s VIII National Congress in December 2017. Lesbiche Bologna (Bologna Lesbians) was thus founded as a politically independent lesbian and feminist association.
2021
Rivolta Pride
Starting from the mobilization #MoltoPiùDiZan (#WayMoreThanZan”, Alessandro Zan being the name tied to a proposed and eventually rejected draft law on gender and orientation based discrimination), the first Rivolta Pride (Riot Pride) was held in Bologna, created by a network of activists, unions, and associations part of the Stati Genderali (Genderal States) movement, whose goal is bringing real change to society through an assembly based and grassroots approach, building up alliances between different subjectivities and political entities. Cassero LGBTQIA+ Center is part of the network.