Written by: Elvira Santaniello, founder-president of Move2Europe APS and fat activist from Body Liberation Network.

On January 17, I took part in the first Italian Fat Conference. It took place online, on Zoom. It might sound like a minor detail, but it wasn’t. Even through a screen, even from different homes, being there — with my body — was a political act. The conference was organised by Grassi Diritti, a grassroots collective that adopts a research-action approach from a fat perspective, focusing on care and reproductive rights. Nothing like this had ever existed in Italy before.

And that matters. Because fat people exist. Fat people who study, who create, who think critically about fatness exist. And communities exist that organise themselves to change dominant narratives. These people deserve spaces where they can be celebrated, listened to, and where they can meet others to imagine collectivities and shared futures.

That conference didn’t ask us to turn off our cameras, to make ourselves smaller, to justify our existence. It was a space where fat bodies were not a “topic,” but subjects. Not problems to be solved, not clinical cases, not numbers or diagnoses. People. With stories, anger, irony, skills, and desires.

I listened to stories about internalized shame, about everyday forms of violence that are often invisible, about “normalized” comments that leave deep marks. But also about resistance, alliances, and reclaiming language. And it was impossible not to recognise myself in them. One of the strongest moments for me was realising, once again, that personal experience is always political. Every contribution echoed something I know well: the judging look, the unsolicited advice, the constant idea that we need to “improve” our bodies to deserve space. In
that virtual room, all of this was collectively dismantled. Using the word “fat” without lowering my voice, without apologies, without defensive irony, felt liberating. Not as provocation, but as an act of truth. Saying “I am fat” and staying.

Even on Zoom. Even in Italy. Even now.
The Fat Conference 2026 was created to make Italian fat people and their projects visible, to increase awareness around fat politics in Italy, and to resist dominant narratives about fat bodies through the voices, creativity, and lived experiences of those who inhabit them. I came out of that conference with an even stronger conviction: body liberation is not an individual self-esteem journey, but a collective practice of disobedience against oppressive standards. And I want to keep being in these spaces, building them, and defending them. Because the problem is not our bodies. It’s the world that teaches us to hate them.

On May 15-17, 2026 Grassi Diritti will host the first Italian Fat festival. More information (in Italian) here.