1. Dear Palazzo Magnani Feroni Guest,. This booklet is offered by the Palazzo
owners to introduce the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender scene of the city ...
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Palazzo Magnani Feroni’s
World Rainbow Hotels Welcome Kit
Nightclubs: Tabasco, Pza Santa Cecilia 3 (Pza Signoria). Ph. 055.21.30.00 One of the oldest gay discos in Italy (opened in 1974) and located on the site of the 16 thcentury Crypt of Saint Cecilia, where Dante met his beloved Beatrice. The undisputed grand dame of the Florentine gay scene. Many famous djs have spun here over the years and the bar always offers an eclectic mix of visitors and locals. It remains open all year but the season from April through October is busiest. Open 7 days until late. 1
YAG, via de’ Macci, 8/red (Santa Croce). Ph. 055.2469022. Located in the former church of San Giuseppe (11 th-century) the YAG offers a full bar for mixed crowd with music videos, big-screen concerts, Internet point, WiFi connection, American snack bar and contemporary décor in a historic setting. Busy on the weekend; drag shows and Happy Hour Sunday from 5:00pm. Open 7 days 9:30pm – 3:00am. Il Piccolo Café, Borgo Santa Croce, 23/red (Santa Croce). Ph 055 200 1057 Gay cocktail bar, spinning alternative music, serving typical Mediterranean aperitif in the evening. Friday and Saturday DJ nights. Popular with locals and foreigners alike. Open 7 days 3:00pm – 2:00am.
Dear Palazzo Magnani Feroni Guest, This booklet is offered by the Palazzo owners to introduce the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender scene of the city of Florence to the clients of World Rainbow Hotels. This guide contains the principal attractions as well as some lesser known aspects of the GLBT scene. We hope that this information will be of use to you in discovering everything Florence has to offer. For further information please do not hesitate to contact our Front Desk at any time during your stay with us. Wishing you a wonderful stay
Crisco, Via Sant'Egidio, 43/red (Santa Croce). Ph 339 7230615 Men only: The historic gay crusing bar of ill repute has recently had a facelift, maintaining its rough underbelly while relaunching itself as a space for special events, performances, theme parties, and much more. The club offers an unmistakable 80s atmosphere with video and darkroom. Open 10:30pm – 5:00am; closed Sundays & Tuesdays. Bar 85, via Guelfa, 85/red (S M Novella). Ph. 055. 2645461. Men only: A recent addition to Florence’s gay scene, this dépendence of the Florence Baths offers a hard atmosphere with darkroom; located conveniently near the train station and the sauna.
Open 7 days 5:00pm – 3:00am.
Historic Aspects of Florence The illustrious history of the Florentine Republic has long been associated with distinguished members of the gay and lesbian community. As early as the thirteenth century Dante encounters noted homosexual Ser Brunetto in Canto XV of his Inferno, in the midst of those “clerks, and men of letters great and of great fame, in the world tainted with the selfsame sin (“cherci e litterati grandi e di gran fama, d'un peccato medesmo al mondo lerci.”) Boccaccio too memorably describes Pietro di Vinciolo’s shame (“tristezza”) on Day 5 of The Decameron. Gay and lesbian frivolity so flourished in the era of the Republic that by 1432 the City was compelled to institute an office of six municipal wardens (the infamous “Uffiziali di notte”) as morality guards to combat acts of sodomy. The citizens could anonymously denounce those who practiced these immoral acts by dropping a note into one of the “tamburini” placed around the City. Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Verrocchio are the two most famous victims of this dragnet. Indicative of Florence’s liberal tradition, the office of morality was frequently criticized for excessive tolerance. Florence’s difficulty with moral censure exploded anew on August 31, 1512, when a group of Florentine noblemen staged history's first gay rights demonstration by charging into City Hall, forcing a senior justice official to resign and demanding that the council revoke the sentences of all those who had been exiled or deprived of office for sodomy. After a palace coup by the Medici family two weeks later, those demands were actually met.
The sequence of homosexual luminaries associated with Florence became thick during the Renaissance and ranges from visitors such as Francesco Algarotti to the most prominent members of the ruling family in Giovanni de’ Medici, better known as Pope Leone X, and Giangastone de’ Medici, the final male heir of the Florentine dynasty. The intellectual tradition originally inspired by the court of Lorenzo il Magnifico provided fertile ground for Agnolo Ambrogini “Il Poliziano”, Giovanni della Casa (“Galateo”), Benvenuto Cellini, and Torquato Tasso, just to name a few. In a 16th-century German dictionary the city of Florence has become synonymous with “buggery” as the outbreak of the Reformation fuelled the assimilation of liberal and licentious behaviour. Florence’s ongoing cultural significance right up to the present day has ensured that prominent members of the gay and lesbian community continue to flock to the capital of Tuscany. Henry James and Harold Acton are both widely associated with the Florentine legacy. Violet Paget (better known by her pseudonym “Vernon Lee”) is interred in the Cemetery of the Allori not far from Violet Trefusis, a long-time resident of Florence. Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas were guests of Mabel Dodge Luhan in Fiesole in 1910.
Gay & Lesbian Tuscany: Florence represents the largest metropolitan area in Tuscany and also the highest concentration of clubs, restaurants and vendors specialised in Gay & Lesbian clientele. Florence nonetheless provides an ideal base to explore all of Tuscany and better established gay & lesbian communities in Rome, Bologna and Milan, just to name a few, are easily accessible by rail or automobile. It is our pleasure to provide you with further information regarding the areas you may wish to consider as a day trip from Florence during the summer or as an interlude to your Florence sojourn. Torre del Lago – Viareggio (Versilia) The beach “La Lecciona”, located just one hour’s drive from Florence, is one of the most prominent gay locales in Italy and offers a thriving beach scene in season, accommodation specialised in the gay and lesbian market and a series of nightclubs renowned throughout Italy. The nightlife explodes on weekends in summer, when the Puccini Festival also draws large crowds for the composer’s home-town festival. Fabrik, via del Lavoro, 19 (Calenzano – zona industrial Fibbiana). Ph. 349.8906645. Men only: The Fabrik is a private club with American bar, video-cabins and a cruising area, in a former industrial building of 600 sqm. On the rear side, there's an outdoor gazebo and a garden for smoking. You can easily reach the Fabrik by car (exit Sesto Fiorentino – Calenzano on the highway "A1" or exit "Prato Est" on the highway "A11".) 10:00pm – 3:00am; closed Monday.
