TAORMINA, ITALY
by Stuart Haggas
The beauty of Italian men has inspired
artists throughout history, from Michelangelo’s perfectly
chiseled “David” to Caravaggio’s passionate
and sensual religious paintings. The provocative photographs
of naked youths, taken by German aristocrat Baron Wilhelm
von Gloeden in and around the Sicilian resort of Taormina
in the late 19th century, put the town firmly on the gay
map. In his work, von Gloeden made maximum use of Sicily’s
rugged cliff topography and glorious sunlight; while Europe’s
largest volcano, Mount Etna, and the ancient Greek and
Roman ruins of Taormina, provided evocative backdrops
to the theatrical nudity. These homoerotic portraits had
a similar effect in the 1900s that shots of muscular hunks
in an ad for a gay-friendly hotel or an Atlantis Events
cruise have in 2008: they encouraged wealthy gay tourists
from countries like the United States, the UK, and Germany
to visit.
Visitors to Taormina today will be impressed
by the town’s geography. As if determined not to
be overshadowed by the snow-capped peak of nearby Mount
Etna, Taormina is dramatically poised along a cliff
edge, guaranteeing stunning vistas of the sea below.
The town itself is a beguiling mix of narrow streets
lined with honey-hued palazzi, intimate piazze, pretty
churches, and balconies and terraces overflowing with
flowers.
The primary tourist attraction is Teatro
Greco. One of Sicily’s most celebrated ruins,
this ancient amphitheater was founded by the Greeks
in the 3rd century BC—although the arches and columns
standing here today were built later by the Romans.
Seemingly carved into the hillside and surrounded by
panoramas of the town, the bay of Giardini Naxos, and
majestic Mount Etna, its location could not be more
breathtaking. Once the place to enjoy bloody gladiatorial
spectacles, today Teatro Greco hosts less visceral events
such as the Taormina Film Fest, and the Taormina
Arte international arts festival, which in August
2007 featured divas Liza Minnelli and Montserrat Caballe.
Taormina’s charming little churches
like Chiesa di S Giuseppe, its 17th-century façade
embellished with a macabre skull and crossbones, and
Chiesa di S Caterina, with its cherubic statues,
are much prettier than the bigger, blander Duomo,
but all warrant a quick snap with your camera. After
checking these off your “must do” list, you’ve
pretty much seen all there is to see in Taormina—giving
you time to experience the town like a Sicilian!
The main thoroughfare, pedestrianized
Corso Umberto, is flanked by a pair of historic
gates, Porta Catania and Porta Messina. A sign
at each gate warns that it is forbidden to go bare-chested
or to eat in the squares and streets of the historical
center. This law seems to be directed towards the countless
cruiseship passengers who arrive on tour buses in the
heat of the afternoon, because the locals clearly adhere
to a more stringent dress-code that seems to require
them to wear Dolce & Gabbana at every given opportunity.
The absolute best opportunity to make
the most of any Dolce & Gabbana outfit is to participate
in the traditional evening stroll: the passeggiata.
Accessorize your most sublime designer clothing with
a pair of huge designer sunglasses, some fierce designer
shoes, and a luxurious designer bag, and then treat
Corso Umberto as if it were a runway, stopping to refuel
with gelato, espresso, or Campari and soda at regular
intervals. On balmy summer evenings, you can hardly
move along Corso Umberto because of all the fashion-mad
Italians walking about. Fashionistas, however, will
love the upscale boutiques and perfumeries here like
Parisi and Narcisse.
Gay visitors to Taormina are bound to
be intrigued by the life and art of Wilhelm von Gloeden.
Von Gloeden came to Taormina from Germany in 1878 at
age twenty-two, hoping the climate would be easier on
his tuberculosis. As well as an improvement in his health,
von Gloeden also found an opportunity here to combine
his two passions: classical art and handsome young men.
He began taking photographs of local youths, and although
they frequently posed in the nude, von Gloeden’s
pioneering use of sunlit outdoor settings, props, and
body make-up gave his photographs a painterly look that
hinted at ancient Greece, and gave the nudity a veil
of validity. His cousin Wilhelm von Plüschow was
working commercially along similar lines in Naples,
so when the family fortune was lost and his allowance
ceased, von Gloeden also turned professional and began
selling his photographs.
Photographs of naked men had until then
been either scientific studies of anatomy, like those
of Eadweard Muybridge, or a source material for artists,
like those of American painter Thomas Eakins. Wilhelm
von Gloeden’s scenes of an imaginary ancient time
populated by beautiful young men were among the first
photographs of the male nude taken simply to please
the eye of the beholder. He established a successful
mail order business, although the majority of customers
were wealthy tourists who, lured by von Gloeden’s
sensual visions, included a visit to Taormina in their
Italian tour itineraries. Despite the full-frontal nudity,
this trade wasn’t as underground as you might expect.
As it’s unlikely that prim Victorian ladies in
gloves and starched dresses would be in the market for
such homoerotic snapshots, we must assume that men who
liked men were the primary collectors.
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Numerous influential
and affluent gay visitors came to Taormina in the late
1800s, including Oscar Wilde and the occasional Rothschild
and Vanderbilt heir. It is said that such tourists helped
give this relatively poor region of Italy a significant
economic boost. Far from exploitative, von Gloeden was
ultimately a benefactor to Taormina. Whenever he sold
a photograph, he shared his profits with the models, thus
providing many young Sicilians with an income that enabled
them to set themselves up in business. It’s therefore
likely that some of the cafés, bars, and boutiques
you see in Taormina today were founded with money earned
because someone posed nude for Wilhelm von Gloeden.
When Italy aligned herself against Germany
in the First World War, von Gloeden was obliged to retreat
home. Although he returned to Taormina afterwards, he
was grieved to find that many of his models had lost
their lives during the war. This, combined with the
fact that his romantic, neoclassic photographs didn’t
suit the mood of the postwar years, meant von Gloeden’s
output virtually ceased. After his death in 1931, von
Gloeden’s former lover and model Pancrazio Bucini
inherited his estate. Italy was at that time gripped
by fascism. Mussolini’s police seized von Gloeden’s
archives, Bucini was accused of selling pornography,
and the majority of von Gloeden’s thousands of
glass plate negatives were destroyed.
Fortunately, as von Gloeden had been
so successful in selling his photographs to private
collectors, his work wasn’t entirely lost. An archive
of his photos is gradually being pieced back together.
Continued
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