The countdown for Gay Pride 2003 has begun. A week before the first gay pride celebration in a southern Italian capital, the first "unscheduled" events have begun. Yesterday morning, Michele Bellomo, spokesperson for the Pride parade, presented Mayor Simeone Di Cagno Abbrescia with the proposal for the final celebration on June 7th. Surprisingly, Torre Quetta and Pane e Pomodoro have disappeared, leaving the Pineta di San Francesco as a new addition. The idea was for a celebration with two souls: a parade through the heart of the city and a party with music until dawn. Thus was born the idea for the pairing: Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the pine forest. "On Saturday, June 7th, after the closing rally on the stage in Piazza Prefettura," says Bellomo, "we will all flock to Corso Vittorio Emanuele, which has become a pedestrian area." A parade with floats, colors, and banners, accompanied by jazz music from an orchestra specially called for the grand finale.
«"Since it's the last day, we want to celebrate until dawn: but on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, it would create a public nuisance." Michele Bellomo, Rosaria Iodice (the women's spokesperson), and the other Pride organizers were the first to realize this, so they proposed an alternative location to the mayor, starting at 11 p.m. "At first, we thought of Torre Quetta," says Bellomo, "then Pane Pomodoro or Parco 2 Giugno. But they're all residential areas, surrounded by apartment buildings. Finally, we had a "lightbulb moment," and we almost played the pine forest card: a perfect location, on the outskirts, far from the city center and ideal for gatherings, music, and dancing." Bellomo is counting heavily on the mayor's approval: "There are no meeting places in Bari. If the festival works, we could transform the San Francesco pine forest into one of the trendy summer spots." The answer should arrive by the weekend.
And while Bellomo is touring Italy from Rome to Florence to Venice to promote Pride throughout Italy, and Iodice is finalizing the big "City of Women" day, the first VIPs are signing up: first on the list is Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, secretary of the Greens. And while we wait for June, all our energies are focused on the next event: "No-AIDS-Salento." The event is in Melpignano, next Saturday, May 31st. It begins with a roundtable discussion on AIDS, information, and prevention. In the afternoon (in the Augustinian convent) there will be a screening of short films: "Blowing Bubbles," in collaboration with the "cassero Arcigay" of Bologna, and "Antipodi della mente," youth lifestyles and consumption patterns between fiction and reality. And the day will end with a grand concert by Nidi d'arac, Radio Dervish, Tax Free, and Opa Cupa.