Gay Guide to Bologna
Italy only recognised same-sex civil unions in 2016 and still has no marriage equality, but Bologna has long been the country's activist capital. In June 1982 the city council handed the Cassero di Porta Saragozza, one of the old city gates, to the local gay movement, the first time an Italian municipality had given an LGBTQ+ group a public building.
That organisation, now the Cassero LGBTQIA+ Center on Via Don Minzoni, is still the centre of queer Bologna. Its library and archive, collected since 1982, is the largest LGBTQ+ collection in Italy, and the building also hosts Arcigay and the Cassero's own Saturday parties.
Red Club, run by the Circolo Red association out in the Roveri industrial area, is the city's biggest gay club, with a summer pool. In the centre, Il Barattolo on Via del Borgo di San Pietro is a queer café-bar with aperitivo, foosball and art shows, and Libreria Igor on Via Santa Croce has a strong LGBTQ+ section. Cosmos and Steam are the two saunas.
The city's Pride is the grassroots Rivolta Pride, which marches in mid-June from the Giardini Margherita along the viali to the Parco della Montagnola.