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In Naples, as in several other cities of the Campania region (Italy), the word femminiello/femminella “traditionally” refers to effeminate men who behave and act as women. In the last decade femminielli/femminelle were the subject of a true heritagization process, intended to enhace and capitalize their “ancient identity”, now considered on the verge of extinction. Nonetheless, still today, people who self-identify as femminiello/femminella embody an “old-fashioned way” ideal of femininity, sometimes claiming the specificity of their local identity, and distancing themselves from the LGBTQI+ representations and identities. Based on the data collected during a long term fieldwork in Campania, this essay focuses on the processes of production, reproduction and manipulation of the femminielli/femminelle’ identities. More specifically by crossing literature and field notes, I will propose an analysis of the interactions between an orientalist and colonial imaginary that “produces” the femminiello/femminella as otherness (southern) and the reversal that occurs with the distinctive claim of gender experiences embodied by people who still identify as femminielli/femminelle. How do these imaginaries interact? And what implicit stereotypes lurk in such representations?

In this stirring memoir by a member of the first generation of LGBTQ+ activists in Italy, Porpora Marcasciano tells her story and shares the struggles and accomplishments of her fellow activists who achieved so much in the 1970s yet suffered devastating losses during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. AntoloGaia offers an insider's look at the beginnings of the gay liberation movement in Italy and reveals how it was intimately intertwined with other forms of left-wing activism. At the same time, it powerfully conveys the queer joy of a young person from a small village first encountering the vibrant sexual minority communities of Naples, Bologna, and Rome. As Marcasciano starts to embrace her trans identity, she meets the famous anthropologist Pino Simonelli, who introduces her to Naples's unique femminielli subculture and gives her the name Porporino, which she later shortens to Porpora. In keeping with this story of gender, sexual, and political discovery, AntoloGaia is the first piece of Italian life-writing to use gender-neutral and mixed-gender language.  

A Napoli e in alcuni altri centri della Campania la parola femminiello/ femminella ė \"tradizionalmente\" usata per riferirsi a persone di sesso maschile che assumono atteggiamenti e comportament' effeminati o sfacciatamente femminili. Protagonisti, nell'ultimo decennio, di un vero e proprio processo di patrimonializzazione, i/le femminielli/femminelle incarnano un ideale di femminilita \"alla vecchia maniera\", prendendo talvolta le distanze dall'universo di rappresentazioni LGBTQI+ e rivendicando un'identita locale. A partire dai dati raccolti nel corso di una ricerca sul campo di lunga durata in Campania, in questo saggio mi concentro sui processi di produzione, riproduzione e manipolazione delle identita dei femminielli/femminelle. In particolare, attraverso l'analisi incrociata della letteratura e dei dati di campo, intendo proporre una riflessione sull'interazione tra un immaginario orientalista e coloniale che \"produce \"il femminiello/femminella come soggetto-altro (meridionale) e il ribaltamento che si produce nella contemporaneita con la rivendicazione distintiva delle esperienze di genere incarnate dai soggetti femminielli. Come interagiscono questi immaginari? E quali impliciti stereotipi si annidano in tali rappresentazioni?