Gay history and art tour of Italy launched!

For a couple of days, I’ve been thinking I need to write a summary blog post about the first gay history and art tour of Italy. But how to talk about 10 intense days of touring? Should I talk about the people? I’d have to ask for everyone’s permission to tell you about the fascinating cast of characters; but I can tell you that it was a very lively group and gratified me in particular by how well they got along. I remember how happy I was when I passed the bar at our gorgeous hotel overlooking the bay of Sorrento and saw them all having drinks together. It was that way right until the last breakfast. 

Gay History on Capri

Our gay history and art tour of Italy is starting in 5 days, so I’m in Italy making a few last-minute arrangements.  And in the meantime, I’m doing a bit of gay history exploration–today an exploration of gay Capri.  I went out to Capri mainly to look into the ruins of Emperor Tiberius’ villa.   Tiberius, Augustus’ stepson and successor, has a miserable reputation.  The main problem seems to be that he hated being Emperor; plus he didn’t have much charisma–and Augustus was a hard act to follow.  In the end, he retired to a villa on Capri for the last ten years of his reign.  Frankly, my suspicion is that like Greta Garbo, he wanted to be alone.