‘Femminielli’ Given New Role at Traditional Feast in Naples

“The Juta is a celebration of the encounter between the human and the divine,” said Rev. Vitaliano Della Sala in his Feb. 2nd homily, in honor of Naples, Italy’s annual La Juta pilgrimage. This year, hundreds of guests from a third gender group known as “femminielli” gathered just outside of  the city to make their traditional hike to the Sanctuary of Montevergine, honor the biblical Mary, and affirm their gender identity. 

The femminielli identity describes people who were assigned male at birth, but who assume feminine behavior and dress. According to Religion News Service, the Juta dei Femminielli has ancient roots that  “an identity rooted in cultural expression and Parthenopean, or Neapolitan, mythology.” The pilgrimage takes place each year on Candlemas, when Catholics commemorate the presentation of Jesus to the temple. 

Gold Queen, from left, Rosaria Fiengo and Lust Queen attend La Juta pilgrimage, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Mercogliano, Italy. (RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

While the Juta is a longstanding tradition, this was the first year the parish invited transgender women to do the Mass readings. The Mass was, as always, a celebration of prayerful joy. but with this addition it also became a celebration of acceptance and welcome. 

“They want people to believe the church is a place of darkness for us,” said Gold Queen, a transgender woman who attended Mass, just outside the church. “But there are people inside the church who open their arms, open the doors and help tear down the walls of inequality.”

Despite a long history in the Neapolitan region,the femminielli, have not always found acceptance. “But after a few years, little by little, people started coming back, and today you see a multitude,” says Loredana Rossi, vice president of the Trans Association of Naples, a group that works to preserve these third gender traditions. Several popular Neapolitan rituals revolve around their identities—The Wedding of the Femminielli, a theatrical childbirth ritual symbolizing fertility, and a femminielli-led rosary—many of these rituals are fading in the 21st century. 

The Juta is one such tradition, though preserving it hasn’t been an easy road. It has not been celebrated continuously, and in 2002, femminielli were barred from the Sanctuary of Montevergine,” the news article reported. The image of the Madonna of Montevergine has long been a symbol for the oppressed and ostracized. 

This year, the pilgrimage was interrupted by a landslide on the path to the Sanctuary. “Despite everything, the femminielli didn’t stop because beyond folklore, this is an act of faith, an act of resistance,” said Lust Queen, a trans woman who read the Psalm at Mass. The organizers of the pilgrimage were able to move the celebration to the Church of the Annunziata. 

The Juta blends Catholic, Neapolitan, and popular culture, so it leaves paticipants with a variety of takeaways. Rossi remembers particulalry the words of the priest at Mass:

“He spoke of a God who is love, who embraces everyone without looking at color, ethnicity, status or religion — a human God. I didn’t feel like I was in a house taken from others. I felt I was in the Lord’s house, and that it was our home too.”

—Lynnzee Dick, New Ways Ministry, February 16, 2026