Press area: Furry Italia press kit

This is the Furry Italia press area, for journalists, newsrooms, documentary makers, students and researchers who want to write about the furry fandom (the community of fans of anthropomorphic animal characters) and about the Italian furry community in particular. It contains a fact sheet, the key figures with their sources, answers to the most frequently asked questions, guidelines for photos and interviews, and our contact details.

We want to help you write a piece that is accurate, verifiable and respectful. Every figure quoted in the press kit links to its original source, and when a figure doesn’t exist or can’t be verified, we say so.

Group of fursuiters sitting outdoors

Group photo of fursuiters outdoors at WildOut's Back2Fun (April 2026). Photo: courtesy of WildOut APS (Back2Fun 2026)

About us

Furry Italia (furryitalia.it) is an online community for the Italian furry fandom, active since 21 July 2004. The site publishes news, articles, events and information about the furry community in Italy, and there is also a Facebook group, a Telegram group, an X/Twitter account and a Steam group. The community’s discussion spaces follow a public set of rules (in Italian) which, among other things, ban NSFW and pornographic content, insults, politics and religion, and sharing other people’s personal data.

Fact sheet

Furry Italia

Name Furry Italia
Website furryitalia.it
Online since 21 July 2004
Legal status None: Furry Italia is an independent project owned by Massimo Cicciò (RedFoxy Darrest), who is also vice-president of the Italian non-profit association WildOut APS
Activities News about the Italian furry fandom, public information, events calendar, online community spaces
Language Italian and English
Official channels X/Twitter @furryitalia · Telegram t.me/furryitalia · Facebook group facebook.com/groups/furryitalia · RSS feed furryitalia.it/en/feed
Spokesperson / press contact Massimo Cicciò, known in the fandom as RedFoxy Darrest, owner and manager of Furry Italia

The furry fandom in five lines

What it is An international community of fans, artists, writers, gamers and role-players interested in anthropomorphic animals (Furscience).
Origins American science fiction fanzines and conventions of the 1970s and 1980s; the term furry fandom appears in fanzines as early as 1983; the first convention, ConFurence 0, was held in California in 1989 (Wikipedia).
Who they are Mostly young adults: about 75% are under 25 (Furscience); a community with a large LGBTQ+ presence.
The fursona About 95% of furries have their own character, the fursona (S. E. Roberts, The Conversation, 2022).
Costumes Only a minority own a full fursuit: about 10-15% according to Furscience.
Conventions Anthrocon (Pittsburgh) reported 20,618 attendees in 2026; Eurofurence (Hamburg) counted 9,139 attendees in 2026 (Wikipedia).
Charity According to Midwest FurFest, the furry community has raised more than 3 million dollars for charities since 1989.

The press kit pages

Three fursuiters seen up close outdoors

Three fursuiters wave at the photographer at WildOut's Back2Fun (April 2026). Photo: courtesy of WildOut APS (Back2Fun 2026)

Press contacts

For interview requests, statements, fact-checking or getting in touch with members of the community, write to us with your publication, topic, format (print, web, radio, TV, podcast) and deadline.

  • Press contact: Massimo Cicciò, known in the fandom as RedFoxy Darrest, owner and manager of Furry Italia
  • How to reach us: the official channels listed on the Contacts page (Telegram is the fastest), saying that yours is a press enquiry
  • Contact form: furryitalia.it/en/contacts

We can help you find people willing to be interviewed, but we never give out the personal data of community members: any contact happens only with the explicit consent of the person concerned.

Downloads

Terms of use for images

  • Furry Italia material (logo and official photos): free to use in articles and news reports about Furry Italia or the furry fandom, credited to “Furry Italia”. The logo must not be altered, distorted or recoloured, and must not be used in a way that suggests sponsorship or endorsement.
  • Third-party images: the photographs on these pages either come from Wikimedia Commons, where they are published under Creative Commons licences (CC BY or CC BY-SA), or were provided by WildOut APS. Anyone reusing the Commons photos must follow the licence and credit the author, licence and source as given in the captions; the WildOut photos need WildOut APS’s permission.
  • People in the photos: even when a photo is freely licensed, there is still a person inside the costume. For new photos taken at events, the consent rules described in the guidelines for journalists and photographers apply.
  • Artists’ work: drawings, illustrations and characters (fursonas) belong to their creators. Publishing them requires permission from the artist and from the character’s owner.

This applies to the whole press kit: if a figure has no source, don’t use it. If in doubt, ask us. We would much rather answer one more question than find a mistake in print.

Sources