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Meet Lina Galore — the Winner (and Trade) of 'RuPaul's Drag Race Italia' Season 3

Friday December 29, 2023

"RuPaul's Drag Race Italia" closed its third season by crowning Lina Galore its winner.

The final episode and full season are available now on WOW Presents Plus worldwide, and on Paramount+ in Italy.

"I hope from the bottom of my heart that this power is not only helpful to me, but to all the people who look to me from home who may have felt, for a second, represented, protected, but above all, seen," Galore said in a press release.

Out-of-drag Galore is Giovanni Montuori, a 34-year-old communication strategy consultant and digital producer who lives and works in Milan. He describes himself as "a sensitive guy, quite intelligent, very introspective, although quite extroverted."



What made Galore a leading contestant was a combination of her impeccable work and imaginative styles, and his centered, positive attitude. Even when shaded by a contestant in a controversial lipsynch, she had nothing but kind words about the saboteur. She also expressed how important being political and immersed in the community was on Instagram right after being chosen to compete.

"I chose to only collaborate with people that live with or around drag, clubbing and performing. People who know and live our world, the community that built it and its constant evolution. I wanted my runways to showcase the expertise of a queer artist who knows what it means to sweat under a spotlight rather than the cold perfection of a professional design."

A committed artist, Galore cleverly played with the gray area between masculine and feminine in her final runway look — a devastating and sexy showgirl look that would look right at home in "Moulin Rouge." Bare-chested with her crimson dress cut open in the front to reveal her legs, she added a sexy masculine vibe that only underscored her deeper political feelings.

"For the final runway, I don't wear a look, but a manifesto," she said in the voiceover. "On the runway I'm a free creature that doesn't need to define itself or define myself or feel like a man or a woman. And it is just this freedom to make me strong, to make me superhero."

She explained the origin of her drag name to the website The Corner: "Galore is a drag family name, inherited from my drag mother and former boyfriend Sissy, and means 'plenty'. Lina comes from Lina Sastri, a Neapolitan actress and singer-songwriter, whose face dazzled me the first time I saw her in 'De Filippo Natale in Casa Cupiello', a film that has great meaning for me and my family."

Asked if she has ever been bullied, Galore said: "I've never been bullied, quite frankly. I've a huge, let's call it, 'luck': when I'm not wearing Lina's clothes I'm a fairly masculine guy, both in manners and appearance, which in a macho and hetero-normalised society is a natural advantage. Apart from a few jokes from childhood classmates when they found out I loved playing with Barbies, I've never been attacked, insulted or taunted for my sexuality nor appearance. I hate to think of this trait of mine as 'lucky', because even those who speak in falsetto and wear crop tops (I love it!) should feel safe and secure."

She describes her motto as "Simple, evocative, surreal. My motto is one word: 'ART'."

Check out pics of Lina and Giovanni from social media: