The new groups organising furry events in Italy

by | Nov 10, 2026 | Events, Italian fandom

Foto di gruppo di decine di fursuiter e partecipanti seduti su una tribuna

Top photo: the official group photo of Back2Fun, the event organised by WildOut APS in April 2026. Photo: courtesy of WildOut APS (Back2Fun 2026)

For years, anyone in Italy who wanted to meet other furries had few chances: a get-together in Lucca, the odd furmeet among friends, a trip abroad for Eurofurence. Today, alongside Furizon, the largest Italian convention, recent years have brought associations and volunteer groups that organise meetups at comic fairs, hotel events and outdoor gatherings, from the North-East down to Rome and Naples. Below are the most active groups, with the information we were able to check.

The benchmark: APS Furizon

Area: northern Italy (currently Lombardy and South Tyrol) · Founded: late 2014, an association since 2018 · Website: furizon.net

Furizon has been around longer than the other groups, which measure themselves against it, and it has grown a lot in recent years. Founded by Silverwolf and Rigel, it held its first furmeet in 2015 in Trentino and became a convention in 2022. According to the figures collected on WikiFur, the 2026 edition, “Polaris”, at the Devero Hotel in Cavenago di Brianza (near Milan), had more than 490 attendees.

Besides the June convention, the association runs Furizon Riverside, a residential furmeet in the mountains: the 2026 edition is scheduled for 15 to 18 October 2026 at the Hotel Corno Bianco in Pietralba (Bolzano). The official website has also announced Furizon Madness 2027, from 1 to 4 June 2027, again at the Devero Hotel. The events are open to association members only.

PowsUp! in Rome and central and southern Italy

Area: Rome, with events in Lucca, Novegro and Naples too · Founded: summer 2023, an APS since October 2025 · Website: powsup.net

PowsUp! was set up in summer 2023 to organise events and furmeets all over Italy, starting from Rome because, in the organisers’ words, “the fandom in central and southern Italy has been loudly asking to get together for years”. In October 2025 the group became a non-profit social promotion association (APS).

It has two main activities:

  • PowsUp! CoMeets: free meetups open to everyone inside comic fairs, with a meeting point, lunch together, group photos and a fursuit walk. The website documents CoMeets at Romics, Lucca Comics & Games 2025, Novegro and, in 2026, the first CoMeet at Comicon in Naples. The most recent one on the calendar was at Romics on 3 October 2026.
  • PowsUp! Night: a multi-day New Year’s event, with a Dealers’ Den, disco, Fursuit Lounge and games. After becoming an APS, the group held a multi-day event in a hotel in the capital for the first time. The next edition, PowsUp! Night 2027, is planned from 30 December 2026 to 2 January 2027 in Rome and is open to adult members only.
A crowd of visitors queuing in front of the entrance to the Fiera di Roma

Visitors queuing at the entrance to the Fiera di Roma during Romics (October 2024), one of the fairs where PowsUp! CoMeets are held. Photo: Nicholas Gemini, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nexus Fur Events in the North-East

Area: Veneto and the North-East · Founded: 2022 · Website: nexusfur.carrd.co (Telegram: t.me/NexusFur)

Nexus Fur Events describes itself as a small group of volunteers founded in 2022 “with the aim of bringing the Furry Fandom together and recreating the online community in real life”. Its very first event was held at Parco Giardino Sigurtà in Valeggio sul Mincio (Verona), where the group still holds its biggest yearly meetup every September. The 2026 edition, called PAWSinPARK, was scheduled for 5 and 6 September, with part of the proceeds going to the rabbit rescue section of ENPA (the Italian animal protection charity) in Vicenza.

The group also organises meetups at comic fairs in the North-East and publishes a monthly calendar of Italian fairs. The upcoming furry meetups it lists include San Donà Fumetto (San Donà di Piave, 10-11 October) and Gardacon (Montichiari, 7-8 November). Nexus also offers to help anyone who wants to organise their own meetup and says it wants to be “a safe space for everyone”.

WildOut APS in Tuscany and Emilia

Area: central and northern Italy, based in Lucca · Website: wildout.eu

WildOut APS is a social promotion association based in Lucca, founded in 2024 from the grassroots by a small group of fans. It wants to organise affordable live events in Italy, where people can meet up with friends they know from online and make new ones, and to grow one edition at a time, following the path Furizon has already taken.

Its first event was Back2Fun, on 25 and 26 April 2026 at the RHI Porta Bologna hotel in Pieve di Cento (Bologna): a 90s-themed weekend with a private disco, 83 attendees and 46 fursuits. The same venue will host Wild in the Woods from 23 to 25 April 2027, with a camp-in-the-woods theme; registration is already open, with tickets at 60, 90 and 140 €.

WildOut is looking for volunteers, takes proposals for panels and activities, and has a Dealer’s Den where artists and creators with a full-event ticket get a free table.

Grassroots meetups

Not every event comes from an association. Many meetups are put forward by individuals, who coordinate everything through a Telegram group. Two examples from 2023, reported by FurryDen:

  • Furry meetup at Naoniscon (Pordenone Fiere, 30 April 2023), organised by Sherly Winchester, with a group photo and an official photographer.
  • “Furry in villa” (Villa Farsetti, Santa Maria di Sala, 11 June 2023), held during Farsetti Comix&Games and organised by Random Hellhound, a name that now also appears on the Nexus Fur Events website. It was a free meetup, open to people with and without a fursuit.
Cosplayers and visitors in a tree-lined square at the foot of the walls of Lucca

Cosplayers and visitors near the walls of Lucca during Lucca Comics & Games 2021. Comic fairs are still where grassroots meetups happen. Photo: Syrio, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What about regional groups?

Local groups that organise dinners, outings and furmeets have been around for a long time too. One of the few that are well documented is SPQF, founded in Rome in November 2015, which in its first two years organised dozens of furmeets and had links with groups such as Campaniafurs and Lombardianfurs. Many other regional groups live on Telegram, Discord or Instagram, often change their names and have no public website, so we haven’t been able to check their dates and activities reliably. If you run a group in your region, write to us and we’ll add it.

How to take part

  • Meetups at fairs (CoMeets, Nexus meetups, etc.): these are usually free, and all you need is a ticket for the fair. Check the time and meeting point on the group’s channels.
  • Hotel events (Furizon, PowsUp! Night): you need the association’s membership card and to register, often with limited places. Keep an eye on when registration opens.
  • Fursuits: fairs don’t always have a supervised area where you can leave your suit. Arrange to have a handler and bring water and a change of clothes.
  • Rules: always read the group’s code of conduct. It is there to keep these spaces welcoming for everyone.

This list is not complete. If you know of a group or an event that’s missing from it, let us know and we’ll update the article.

Sources

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