While the rest of Italy might have been cryogenically frozen six centuries ago, Gay Milan is face-paced, fashion-forward, decidedly avant-garde and extremely…well, GAY!
Sure, Rome and Florence are generally first of a travelers bucket list of historic Italy, but Milan is the Italy of the future, a metropolis where creativity is currency, looking good is mandatory, and everyone knows the deal: you work hard, you play hard.
Lovers of art and design will delight here with world-class boutiques on the pulse of global fashion, but you don’t need to spend money to appreciate modern Italian design’s. Just look up, and you can enjoy world-class art deco and rationalist architecture, plus an incredibly futuristic skyline where modern greats such as Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, and César Pelli have all left their mark.
Tucked away for us queers are fabulously wild parties – catering to everyone with everything from glitter fuelled Twink madness, to hyper-masculine clubs, industrial cruise spaces and hipster havens. Rome might be Italy’s political capital, but Milan is its queer capital – and we just can’t get enough!
For maximum impact, try visit during Milan Gay Pride in June though there is plenty of LGBT pride all year around.
Sadly Italy one of the worst countries in Western Europe for gay rights, and while same-sex unions were legalized in 2016, Italy is the only country in the Western world with a ban on same-sex marriages. Despite this, Italy can generally be considered a gay-friendly nation and public opinion are increasingly culturally liberal, and gay travelers are unlikely to experience any outright prejudice or problems with displays of affection in public.
After watching the illiberal slide in Budapest, Warsaw, Istanbul, and Bucharest, we hope the same doesn’t happen here even as same-sex marriage has become a political football in Italy’s elections.
Having said this: by day Gay Milan is packed with sexy Italian boys and girls picnicking in tranquil parks, sipping coffee in quaint curb-side cafes or roaming art galleries but by night is when things really come alive. High-brow cocktails? Bears with beers? Dark underground fetish parties? Some of the wildest gay parties in Europe? Check, check, check and CHECK!
Even excluding the nightlife, the world-class museums, haute couture shopping, iconic architecture, fine dining; the utterly intoxicating atmosphere will give tourists more than enough reason to visit Gay Milan whether it’s for a night, a week or to live full-time!