Via di San Giovanni in Laterano is the Gay Street of Rome, in front of the breathtaking majesty of the Colosseum, a 360-degree expression of freedom, tolerance, democracy and the newest concept of hospitality.
Still known affectionately not only to the Romans as “lo stradone di San Giovanni,” since the 1960s it has been the meeting place of the Roman homosexual community, so much so that on March 2, 2007 the first stretch of Via di San Giovanni in Laterano was officially christened as “Gay Street,” with a pedestrian area, 300 metres of shops, restaurants and gay and gay-friendly bars that serve as a backdrop to the Roman LGBT evenings.
This is a historic place in Rome, the last stretch of the ancient “Via Papalis,” in the footsteps of the papal procession that on the occasion of the inauguration of the new pope followed the road leading from St. Peter’s to the Church of St. John Lateran. This road was extended and paved in 1588 by Pope Sixtus V, becoming the link between the Colosseum and the Lateran and enriched by important buildings, churches and villas.
Along the “Stradone di San Giovanni,” in the shadow of the Flavian Amphitheatre, internationally known as the Colosseum, with its 7.5 million visitors in 2018 perhaps the most visited monument on the planet, clubs were opened as early as 2001 as places for the gay community to meet and get together, and which come alive especially in the evening in the heart of the Roman Gay Street, where they offer an opportunity to meet people and to make oneself known. Messaging, drag shows, live music and entertainment have made these meeting places popular, and also crowded with tourists.