5 best places in Milano to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community

Discovering points of interest for the community

Gayly Planet The travel blog dedicated to the LGBT+ community

Milano has become the main city in Italy for the LGBTQ+ community. On the streets of the city you can feel the freedom, history and culture that has made Milano the most gay-friendly city in Italy. 

 

Which are the ideal places to discover and celebrate LGBTQ+ community and culture in Milano? Come with us and discover the gay Milano by following itineraries to celebrate the history of the Milanese LGBTQ+ community. 

 

Palazzo Morigi

Palazzo Morigi is located a few steps from Duomo and is a beautiful fifteenth-century building in via Morigi 8. This is one of the most important historical places of the Italian LGBTQ + community.

 

In September 1976 this building was occupied by the COM collective (Milanese homosexual collectives) who needed to find a place where they could express their identity. It was here that was born what for many is considered the first Italian gay movement. Mario Mieli, one of the founders of the Italian homosexual movement and pioneer of LGBTQ + activism, was among the many who participated in the events hosted in Palazzo Morigi.

Piccolo Teatro Strehler

Piccolo Teatro Strehler every year in June becomes one of the most loved places by the Milanese people thanks to the MIX Festival.

 

The MIX Milano Festival of Gay Lesbian Cinema and Queer Culture is one of the longest running events (it has been held for 33 years) to which Milanese people are most attached. Among the film festivals, it’s one of the most attended LGBTQ+ event in Italy not only for the movie screenings, but also for the events and parties starting the Milano Pride Week. This year the festival will move from June to September, from 17 to 20 and it will be a great opportunity to extend the month of Pride to the beginning of fall and give greater visibility to the queer community linked to art and entertainment.

Piazza della Scala

If Piazza Scala could speak, it would tell all the demonstrations that the Milanese LGBTQ + community has organized right here.

 

On June, 27, 1992, the first same-sex marriage was celebrated in this square which, however symbolic, marked an era. Since then, the square has become one of the most important places for the community: the “Wake up, Italy!” protest rally took place here for example, and due to the great amount of people that came here during the protest it contributed to the achievement of the law on civil unions.

 

Right in front of the Leonardo da Vinci's statue, a chain with two padlocks was positioned on the small railing that runs alongside the flowerbed of the square. Those locks where put here to remember the symbolic marriages and will only be opened when the LGBTQ + community will reach full equality with the lawmaking of equal marriage.

Porta Venezia

Already starting from the subway platform entirely covered by a very long rainbow flag, it is clear how much Porta Venezia is linked to the LGBTQ + community. For many Milanese, Italian and International tourists, this neighborhood is the ideal meeting place.

 

The Antigone bookshop is a real point of reference for those wishing to deepen their knowledge into queer and feminist culture through books and graphic novels. The tour around Porta Venezia would not be complete without having a drink or aperitivo in one of the many gay-friendly bars in the area.

 

Via Lecco

Throughout the neighborhood there are venues and bars frequented daily by the Milanese and international LGBTQ + community. During the Pride Month the streets of Porta Venezia and via Lecco in particular become the main place to go. Largo Bellintani becomes the official Pride Square and meetings and events are often organized all along the street.

 

From the opening of the historic bar Mono to the famous LeccoMilano, the street immediately became the the place to be for the Milanese LGBTQ + nightlife, filling up year after year with bars and restaurants where you can spend the evening or organize a pre-evening with friends.