In March 2026, Luana Rigolli’s exhibition Repression of Homosexuality Under Mussolini will be displayed in the Library.

During Pride Week 2026 (March 9-13), Dr. Alessio Ponzio, associate professor and director of the Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity (CSGD), will offer daily guided tours. Students are encouraged to participate and we hope faculty will incorporate the exhibition into course assignments. The exhibition will remain in the library for one month after opening.

For more information or to discuss the exhibition, please contact Dr. Ponzio. Additional details will be shared in the coming weeks. For now be sure to mark your calendars.

Background on the exhibition

Same-sex behavior was decriminalized in Italy in 1889. When the Fascist regime revised the penal code in 1925, it considered criminalizing homosexuality but ultimately remained silent, claiming the “vice” was too rare to legislate and that naming it would spread it. Instead, authorities used existing laws—covering corruption of minors, obscenity, and public morality—together with the 1926 Public Security Laws to police queer individuals. These laws allowed involuntary hospitalization, psychiatric confinement, and extrajudicial measures—exile, probation, and official warnings—imposed without trial. Silence itself became a tool of repression, leaving the accused with no means of defense.

In 1939, 45 men from Catania were arrested for homosexuality and exiled over 700 km to the island of San Domino. They were released in June 1940 when the island was needed for political prisoners but remained under police surveillance for two more years. Their story has been reconstructed by historians Gianfranco Goretti and Tommaso Giartosio and visually documented by photographer Luana Rigolli.

Rigolli’s work, which has toured Italy and abroad, will be exhibited at MacEwan University in March 2026, inviting reflection on the repression and policing of sexuality and gender. Each photograph will be paired with an archival document relating to the person depicted, such as letters to Mussolini, family correspondence, or Fascist police reports. A digital wall in the library will provide context.

From the Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity