Gore Vidal: House For Sale Or Rent

The cliffside Italian mansion once owned by author Gore Vidal is up for sale.

The 10,500 square foot residence, which sits on over six acres of land and is 1,000 feet above the Tyrrhenian Sea in Ravello, is on the market for $21.1million.

In addition to the stunning views and massive estate, the house also comes with plenty of history, as Vidal entertained everyone from Mick Jagger and Susan Sarandon to Hillary Clinton and Princess Margaret at the lavish parties he threw there...

Vidal first visited the property in 1948 during a trip to Italy with his close friend and fellow writer Tennessee Williams.

Vidal lived in the home with his partner Howard Austen, who passed away in 2003 after battling cancer.

The writer's acerbic wit coupled with the home's stunning location attracted countless celebrities over the years and Vidal's parties became the stuff of legend.

Tim Teeman, author of In Bed With Gore Vidal: Hustlers, Hollywood, and the Private World of an American Master, wrote of some of the names who came to Italy in a story for The Daily Beast...

Teeman also spoke with several friends of Vidal who said he and Austen enjoyed hosting non-famous guests at the home as well, specifically young men from the town...

Daily Mail.

Tim Teeman's article, Inside Gore Vidal’s Cliffside Palace of Sex, Scandal, and Celebrity, contains rather a lot about Gore's young male visitors from the town and is thus an absolute hoot.

PS Jay Parini's Every Time A Friend Succeeds Something Inside Me Dies: A Life Of Gore Vidal is Radio 4's Book Of The Week this week. It's quite entertaining.

Anthony Clare's In The Psychiatrist's Chair with Uncle Gore will be re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on Saturday.

History: San Domino Dancing

Seventy-five years ago in Fascist Italy, a group of gay men were labelled "degenerate", expelled from their homes and interned on an island. They were held under a prison regime - but some found life in the country's first openly gay community a liberating experience...

No discriminatory laws were passed [under Mussolini]. But a climate was created in which open manifestations of homosexuality could be vigorously suppressed.

And one particular police prefect in the Sicilian city of Catania took full advantage of the official mood. "We notice that many public dances, beaches and places in the mountains receive many of these sick men, and that youngsters from all social classes look for their company," he wrote.
He said he was determined to halt this "spreading of degeneration" in his city "or at least contain such a sexual aberration that offends morality and that is disastrous to public health and the improvement of the race".
He went on: "This evil needs to be attacked and burned at its core."
So in 1938 around 45 men believed to be homosexuals in Catania were rounded up and consigned to internal exile.
They eventually found themselves about 600km away on the island of San Domino, in the Tremitis.
The whole episode has been largely forgotten...

From an absolutely fascinating feature on BBC News magazine today by Alan Johnston.

It is not thought that any men who were held captive on San Domino are still alive.  

But Carmela Santoro, an islander who was a child then remembers; "We were curious because they were called 'the girls'.

"We would go and watch them get off the boat... all dressed up in the summer with white pants - with hats.
"And we would watch in awe - 'Look at that one, how she moves!'"

Update: The Advocate/Out online did something on this and put it in the gay travel section.

Silvio Berlusconi: It's The Way He Tells 'Em

“All of us have a homosexual part of 25 per cent, which I also have. The only thing is that I, after a profound examination, have realised that my homosexual part is lesbian.”

Italian Prime Minister and billionaire crook Silvio Berlusconi keeps right on digging - said to a rally of his People of Freedom Party on Saturday.
In November he made the profound observation; "It's better to like beautiful girls than to be gay."

The Daily Mail Vs IKEA: Joined-Up Writing

'We Are Open To All Families': IKEA provokes outrage in Italy after creating advert with gay couple holding hands

"This is the latest gay themed advert from furniture giants IKEA which has appeared on billboards across traditionally Catholic Italy - with surprisingly no outrage..."

An unusually indecisive but undoubtedly outraged Daily Mail today.