The accusation was of “pederasty”. The sentence was confinement in the villages of Potenza and Matera. The exhibition that will be inaugurated tomorrow at 4 pm at the University Library of Sassari is entitled “Adelmo and the others, homosexual confinements in Lucania”. The exhibition, which will remain open until October 15, brings to light a little-known piece of our country’s history: the persecution, perpetrated in Italy against homosexual people during the fascist period, through confinement.
Thanks to investigations at the State Archives of Potenza and Matera, the curator of the project Cristoforo Magistro, has reconstructed an important page in the history of the LGBTQIA+ community. The youngest of the confined was 18 years old and his name was Adelmo.
Homosexuality, seen as an illness or a perversion, was denied as much as possible by the fascist regime and rather than create martyrs through formal punishment, confinement was devised mainly in Lucania, but also in Sardinia, in Sulcis. However, only male homosexuality was condemned, while female homosexuality was substantially ignored.
The initiative was organized by the queer organizations MOS - Sardinian Homosexual Movement, Agedo Nord Sardegna – Sassari, Trans* Support, Ufficio CGIL Nuovi Diritti Sassari, CCS Borderline and the Marilena Sini LGBTQ+ Documentation Center and is promoted by the Comitato 25Aprile Sassari.
