Queer Italian-Canadian Writing: Claiming Space and Defying Norms

By Clara Guadagni

Queer Italian-Canadians are claiming space in the writing community by publishing works related to their cultures and identities. Many of these literary artists defy grand narratives and norms of prior Italian-Canadian writing and the community. Queer Italian-Canadian writers provide perspectives that are often silenced but important to acknowledge.  

When Italian-Canadian writing was emerging as an identifiable form of ethnic literature in the 1970s, it often included narratives that later became dominant in mainstream Italian-Canadian and Canadian cultures. These include the praising of colonial figures credited with discovering and “civilizing” what are now called the Americas, strong religious references, fixed traditional gender roles, and narratives around the role of Italian-Canadian labour in the building of Canada. Often, these perspectives were used as a means of legitimizing Italian immigrants’ presence in Canada to gain respect from Anglo-Canadian society (Perin 96). For example, featured in Roman Candles (1978), the very first anthology of Italian-Canadian writing are the “Three Poems to Giovanni Caboto” by Filippo Salvatore. These poems praise Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), who is famous for supposedly finding Newfoundland on a voyage in 1497 – long before Italy was unified as a nation (Frascà, “Italian-Canadian Literature"). In his second poem, Salvatore writes: “How many Italians took the boat / with you? Today we are many, so many, / most of us are young, / young and ambitious like you” (14). As Frascà points out, in these verses “the narrative voice proposes an equation of the explorer’s journey with that of contemporary Italian migrants” (Frascà, “Italian-Canadian Literature"), embracing colonial narratives to depict the Italian-Canadian experience. The Roman Candles anthology also contains “The Photograph of My Grandfather Reading Dante” by Len Gasparini, a poem with strong religious imagery like a halo of light around a grandfather’s head while he reads Dante Alighieri’s writing. Alighieri is an icon of Italian culture and highly respected in Catholicism. For instance, there was an encyclical issued by Pope Benedict XV in 1921 to celebrate Alighieri’s work on the occasion of the 600^th anniversary of Alighieri’s death  (Benedict XV, par. 1). Lastly, the editor of Roman Candles, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, explicitly wanted the writers to be regarded as Canadian with an Italian background. He did so by limiting the anthology to writing in the English language and including writers  described as “not emigrants” (9). This effort to highlight Canadian identity reinforces the suggested utility of grand narratives – to display an idealized version of Italian-Canadian identity for societal approval within the Canadian mainstream. These pieces of cultural production are a few examples displaying prominent themes in the Italian-Canadian writing tradition, but they very often do not represent the nuanced experiences of many Italian-Canadians. This blog post attempts to explore the interaction between dominant themes and less dominant ones, with a focus on queer Italian-Canadian experiences. In fact, queer Italian-Canadian writing often explores Italian-Canadian identity and culture in ways that destabilize the dominant narratives discussed above. This destabilization is necessary for acknowledging diverse perspectives in the Italian-Canadian community and creating an inclusive cultural representation of Italian-Canadians. 

Queer Italian-Canadian stories had not been widely discussed until recently. Previously, the anthology Curaggia: Writing by Women of Italian Descent (1998), explored how feminism and non-heteronormative sexuality intersect with being Italian-Canadian and Italian-American women (Baldo, Here & Now volume one 26). More currently, Here & Now: An Anthology of Queer Italian-Canadian Writing volumes one and two (ed. Canton 2021, 2024), and the Creative Spaces: Queer and Italian Canadian documentary (dir. Canton 2021) explore how heteronormative and religious ideals of Italian-Canadian culture directly conflict with queerness. These works have created a space for several queer Italian-Canadian authors to collectively share their writing and experiences. Importantly, many queer Italian-Canadian writers provide alternate perspectives on Italian-Canadian identity and directly defy traditional narratives in their writing.  

In Monica Meneghetti’s “Biting the Parmesan,” featured in Here & Now volume one, the author writes about how cherishing the food of her culture does not mean she is a “good Italian Catholic straight girl” (48) as many people expect. She grapples with dis/approval from Italian-Canadian readers who adore her writing only until they find out her sexuality (Meneghetti 47-48). In the text, Meneghetti writes: “It’s possible to be both a good Italian and an alternative rebel, a lover of men as well as women (and everyone in between), a deeply committed and faithful partner while in multiple relationships with full mutual knowledge and consent. We know it’s possible because I exist as proof. As do many others.” (48). Meneghetti’s literary piece rejects the normalized sex-shaming and homophobia present in the Italian-Canadian community and promotes authenticity. In another piece titled “The Pasta Machine,” she writes about traditional pasta-making with her parents. This piece about culinary practices is also a story about her non-conformity, which causes conflict with her father – a man she critiques for constantly trying to conform to heteronormative expectations. For example, he stopped bringing his “borsello, a small bag of stiff leather with a handle at the top” (128) to work because his colleagues “teased him about being gay whenever he carried it” (128). In this story, Meneghetti then compares herself to a broken tortellino that should not be fixed, therefore queering this traditional Italian food item, and rejects conforming to the norms engrained in her by Italian culture. Scholar Michela Baldo (University of Birmingham, UK) explores the way Meneghetti’s memoir, What the Mouth Wants (2017), reclaims Italianness by queering terms, integrating her queer partners into her Italian culture, and writing about queer sensuality in combination with traditional Italian food (Baldo, “Code-Switching, Queering Food”). Baldo also discusses how Italian women are usually depicted in writing as the nourisher or cook, but Meneghetti’s work directly counters that common theme. In the memoir, in fact, “the kitchen is a place where bisexual women are hungry and deserve to have their physical and sexual appetites fulfilled” (Baldo, “Code-Switching, Queering Food” 118). Overall, Meneghetti’s work critiques issues like homophobia, sexual stigma, pressure to conform. In so doing, it reconciles Italian-Canadian identity with queerness, therefore rejecting and destabilizing grand narratives.  

In the text “Out of the Closet and Into the Cantina” by Arianna Magliocco, the author compares the LGBTQ+ closet to the Italian cantina – a traditional space often found in basements and used to store homemade food or wine. She uses the cantina to represent a cultural barrier separate from the mainstream “closet” in order to explore the specific circumstances faced by many queer Italian-Canadians. By providing a queer context for a traditional Italian-Canadian space like the cantina, Magliocco offers a counternarrative to what the cantina ordinarily represents. As we can see, the queering of Italian heritage through culinary tradition is a common theme. It continues with the work of another author, Paul Coccia. 

The piece “Let Them Mangia Cake” by Paul Coccia, featured in Here & Now volume one plays with heteronormative concepts to display how gender roles in the Italian-Canadian community can be reclaimed. This comedic piece is about a possibly male narrator who embraces the homemaker and cooking duties of a traditional nonna in order to court a handsome man. Coccia’s text shows that gender roles do not need to be strict and that queer Italian-Canadians can reclaim their culture in many ways. This pushes back against heteronormative themes by making light of traditionalism while honouring an ancestral figure (the nonna), therefore harnessing tradition to do a very queer thing – charm another man.  

Gianna Patriarca, an ally of the queer community, has written poetry that rejects the oppressive religiosity that is prominent in Italian-Canadian culture. “Clever Girl,” featured in Here & Now volume one, uses religious symbols like the Eucharist, described as “the god they / made me swallow” (166), to address the religious expectations often forced onto Italian-Canadians, particularly women. In the same poem, Patriarca also writes that “there is no place for me / either / at their table” (167), which is a tangible articulation of her allyship to the queer community. The table is symbolic of Italian family dinners or the table of the last supper, cultural references that are used here to reject traditionalism. In “Just Be,” also featured in Here & Now, she shows her allyship to queer people again by saying “whatever sin / they have branded / you with / I will forgive” (168). Patriarca’s pushback against non-inclusive forms of Catholicism is a striking way to show her allyship and allows for a perspective different than many past works that center religious traditionalism as part of Italian identity. 

Why is defying Italian-Canadian grand narratives important? The queer Italian-Canadian experiences explored in this blog are necessary for sharing realities different from the heteronormative and often religious perspectives that are common in the literary tradition. Not conforming to grand narratives will also help reduce the othering of LGBTQ+ people that do not fit neatly into the ideals of Italian-Canadian culture. Finally, speaking out about these nuanced lived experiences disrupts the culture of silence, combats stigma and displays that LGBTQ+ realities in the Italian-Canadian community are filled with stories worth sharing (Canton and Frasca 235). 

Bibliography

Baldo, Michela. “Code-Switching, Queering Food and Narrative Construction in Monica Meneghetti’s Memoir What the Mouth Wants.” Forum for Modern Language Studies, vol. 60, no. 1, 2024, pp. 112–128, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqae023.   

Canton, Licia, editor. Here & Now : An Anthology of Queer Italian-Canadian Writing. First edition. Longbridge Books, 2021. 

Canton, Licia, editor. Here & Now: An Anthology of Queer Italian-Canadian Writing. First edition. Longbridge Books, 2024. 

Canton, Licia. “Creative Spaces: Queer and Italian Canadian (2021).” YouTube, uploaded by Accenti Magazine, 9 Dec. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyhhe4gzsfQ.  

Clarke, George Elliot. Directions Home: Approaches to African-Canadian Literature. University of Toronto Press, 2012. 

Di Cicco, Pier Giorgio. Roman Candles : An Anthology of Poems by Seventeen Italo-Canadian Poets. Hounslow Press, 1978. 

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Frascà, Paolo. "Italian-Canadian literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 August 2024 [https://www-litencyc-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19736, accessed 03 July 2025.]  

Magliocco, Ariana. “Artist Statement: Out of the Closet and Into the Cantina.” Queer Italian-Canadian Artists, Queer Italian-Canadian Artists, 15 Dec. 2023, www.qic-artists.com/post/artist-statement-out-of-the-closet-and-into-the-cantina.  

Meneghetti, Monica. “I’m Queer and Italian-Canadian – Coming out Was Twice as Hard.” The Globe and Mail, 28 May 2018, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/article-im-queer-and-italian-canadian-coming-out-was-twice-as-hard/.  Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.  

Perin, Robert. “Caboto as a Contested Ethnic Icon.” Attraversare gli Oceani: Da Giovanni Caboto al Canada multiculturale. Marsilio, 1999.

“In Praeclara Summorum (April 30, 1921): Benedict XV.” In Praeclara Summorum (April 30, 1921) | BENEDICT XV, 29 Apr. 1921, www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xv/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_30041921_in-praeclara-summorum.html

Blog image by Sandi Falconer, The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/article-im-queer-and-italian-canadian-coming-out-was-twice-as-hard/