Hotels around La Spezia
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About La Spezia
La Spezia holds its own Pride march under the name La Spezia Pride. It is organised by RAOT, the Rete Anti Omofobia e Transfobia, a volunteer network from the city that has joined the national federation Arcigay and now operates as Arcigay La Spezia. Arcigay is Italy's largest queer association, with local committees in many provinces. For RAOT, membership mainly brings support with administration, project work and training. By its own account the group does not yet have a permanent base and is looking for premises that would give the community a lasting home.
The march has taken place for several years, each edition under its own motto. The organisers describe it as political, transfeminist, antifascist and built from the grassroots. It is backed by a broad alliance that includes the cultural association Arci, the trade union CGIL, Amnesty International, the secularist association UAAR, the documentation centre Circolo Aldo Mieli and the neighbouring committee Arcigay Massa Carrara. Large sponsors and multinational companies are deliberately left out. The march is funded through volunteer work, benefit events, donations from the community and local businesses that support the project. The organisers therefore ask people to contribute only through their official channels.
A side programme surrounds the march. Recently it included a concert and drag performances at Shake Club on the evening before, a Pride Village on the day itself and an after-party at Shake Club once the march was over. RAOT and the Pride team are also active outside Pride season: together they run the queer party series SqueerT, which aims to create a regular place for meeting people and being visible.
Anyone planning to attend La Spezia Pride will find the date, motto and meeting point announced in good time on the channels of Arcigay La Spezia and in the local press. The march is smaller than the big parades in Rome or Milan, but it is firmly rooted in the city and open to everyone who wants to join in.
Nearby Prides
From the magazine
Magnus Hirschfeld and His Institute: What Was Lost on 6 May 1933
Long before Stonewall, Berlin had a place where homosexual people found advice and recognition. How the Institute for Sexual Science began and why it was destroyed in 1933.
Harvey Milk and Proposition 6: The November 1978 Victory
In 1978 a California ballot measure would have forced queer teachers out of public schools. Harvey Milk fought it, and voters rejected it. What happened and what it has to do with Pride.
Brenda Howard and the Pride Week: Who Turned a Memorial March into a Tradition
After Stonewall, a march marked the anniversary in 1970, and later a whole week. Brenda Howard is named as one of the people behind it. What is documented and where the title Mother of Pride stays disputed.