Pride Wave, the LGBTQIA+ resistance begins again today in Sanremo: here's the season's first parade.
Piazzoni: "While the Netherlands celebrates 25 years of same-sex marriage, Italian public television is legalizing the insult 'faggot'. But 2026 is already the year we've started winning again."“
Sanremo, April 11, 2026 – The 2026 Pride Wave officially kicks off today in Sanremo, in the place and on the date that commemorate the first public protest of the Italian LGBTQIA+ movement. It was 1972, when FUORI! (Italian Revolutionary Homosexual United Front) challenged state homophobia for the first time outside the International Congress of Sexology. That was the Italian Stonewall. Today, 54 years later, the LGBTQIA+ movement returns to the streets and inaugurates the 2026 season of the Onda Pride right here in Sanremo: 42 Pride events have already announced their dates, with the aim of surpassing last year's record of 60 marches. We kick off today, April 11th, with Sanremo Pride, which will meet at 3 pm in Piazza Colombo. Then, in May, Bergamo Pride and Parma Pride will take place on the 16th, followed by Alessandria Pride and Padova Pride on May 30th. On June 6th, the Ancona Marche Pride, Forlì Pride, La Spezia Pride, Taranto Pride, Turin Pride, and Monterotondo Pride will take place. On June 13th, the Rivolta Pride of Bologna, Cuneo Pride, Genoa Liguria Pride, Lecco Pride, Pavia Pride, and Perugia Umbria Pride will take place, and on June 14th, Irpinia Pride. On June 20th, Modena Pride, Palermo Pride, Rome Pride, Varese Pride, and Treviso Pride will take to the streets, while on June 27th, Cagliari Sardegna Pride, Catania Pride, Naples Pride, Verona Pride, Giulianova Abruzzo Pride, Milan Pride, and Human Pride Taranto will take to the streets. July kicks off on the 4th with Comacchio Pride and Salerno Pride, and continues on the 11th with Asti Pride, Egadi Pride, Lodi Pride, and Ragusa Pride. Then, on July 18th, Siracusa Pride will take place, and on July 25th, Campobasso Molise Pride and Rimini Pride. Finally, Savona Pride has already been confirmed for September 5th, Cologno Monzese-Brugherio Brianza Pride on the 12th, and Aosta Pride on September 26th (for updates and new dates: www.ondapride.it).
“"Today," says Gabriele Piazzoni, general secretary of Arcigay, "we are in Sanremo, where it all began. In 1972, a handful of courageous people took to the streets against a world that wanted them invisible. It was an act of pure resistance. Today, 54 years later, we number in the thousands. But the paradox is bitter: today's Italy resembles Italy more closely to that of 1972 than, for example, the Netherlands of 2001. On April 1, 2001, in Amsterdam, three male couples and a female couple were married in front of a mayor. It was the first equal marriage in history. Today, in the Netherlands, there are twenty-year-olds who have always lived in a country where two people of the same sex can marry. It's normal, it's obvious, it's everyday life. We, on the other hand, live in an Italy where not only are two people of the same sex denied access to marriage, but even public television allows the insult 'faggot' to be used throughout the news. An Italy where the Meloni government says 'no' to equal marriage, 'no' to the recognition of children of rainbow couples, 'no' to emotional and sexual education in schools, and obstructs in every way the gender affirmation journeys of trans people. An Italy that at the UN rejects 73% of the recommendations on LGBTQIA+ rights, aligning itself with Orbán and illiberal regimes. We have not moved backward; the country has been pushed backward by a government that uses hate as a social glue. But the 2026 Pride Wave is here to remind this majority that they will not stop us: from Sanremo to Milan, from Palermo to Bologna, from Rome to Aosta, we will be in the streets, in dozens of cities large and small, to say that another Italy is possible. One that is not afraid of diversity, one that looks to the Netherlands, and that does not stigmatize LGBTQIA+ people, at conferences, on TV, or anywhere else. We wish that Italy Happy Pride: This 2026 is already the year in which we started winning again,‘ concludes Piazzoni.
