In response to the string of anti-gay attacks Italians gathered last Friday to stand in solidarity:
"More than 1,000 people took to the streets of Rome on Friday to protest against an increasing number of homophobic attacks throughout predominantly Roman Catholic Italy. Most demonstrators brandished the rainbow flag, the emblem of the gay and lesbian community, as they marched from the the landmark Colosseum to Rome's city hall on the Capitoline Hill. "We are pleased that so many people turned out tonight and if this is not enough to change things, we'll organise more demonstrations," said Fabrizio Marrazzo, Rome leader of Italy's main Arcigay rights movement." [AFP]
