Every year on 2 February, the Feast of Candlemas, a unique ritual is renewed: ‘la juta dei femminielli’, the pilgrimage of homosexuals, transgender people, and the Lgbtq+ world in general to the sanctuary of the Madonna of Montevergine, in Mercogliano, near Avellino, Italy. Who are the femminielli?
The femminielli are a collective reality in Naples and Campania in general, who can be defined as ‘men who live and feel like women’.