Tabasco Disco Bar

About this place Tabasco Disco Bar

Tabasco opened in 1978 at Piazza Santa Cecilia 3r, a small square a few steps from the Basilica di Santa Croce — the pantheon of Florence and the burial site of Michelangelo, whose same-sex attractions are the subject of centuries of scholarship. The irony of Italy's oldest gay bar operating in the shadow of that particular church is not lost on Florentine gay culture. Tabasco is a venue of historical importance: it predates the HIV crisis, predates Italian civil unions by 38 years, and has witnessed the entire arc of modern Italian LGBTQ+ history. The current space consists of three connected rooms — a bar area, a small dance floor and a darker back room — occupying a historic building with low vaulted ceilings. The décor accumulates decades of the venue's own history: photos, posters, ephemera from four and a half decades. The music is mainstream and commercial: pop, house, chart. The crowd is mixed in age — tourists who know about Tabasco's reputation alongside local regulars — and the venue benefits from Florence's heavy international tourism, which means English is widely spoken. Open Tuesday through Sunday from 22:00. Entry is free most nights.