RSI - Storie
Video and Text
Director: Kevin Merz
October 3rd, 2021
Watch I Gatti di Rovio on RSI (Italian)
Rovio, the "village of cats," is facing the sad fate of many small towns in Ticino, namely losing the sense of sociality and, consequently, their own identity. There is no longer a bar, the square is empty, and the elderly who bring life, history, and perspective to the local community are slowly disappearing.
In light of this, artist Yuri Catania, who has moved to the small municipality a few years ago, decides to contribute to bringing back vitality among the narrow streets and stone houses. He has something very special in mind: drawing inspiration from the nickname of the residents of Rovio, "the cats," he embarks on an artistic project that aims to revive this splendid village hidden between Monte Generoso and Lake Lugano, with the help of the community itself.
Art is the force that unites and reunites, and it does so through a feline symbol derived from the village's coat of arms, which ultimately tells something much deeper.
Guests of Rachele Bianchi Porro, such as gallery owner Patrizia Cattaneo Moresi, curator of the beautiful Maroggia Triennial, and Claudio Widmann, a psychotherapist and author - among other books - of the volume "The Cat and Its Symbols," will also be called upon to intervene on these themes.
Documentary films from "Play Suisse" that open a window into the other language regions of Switzerland - in the original language with German subtitles. They are stories about life and the people in Ticino, in western Switzerland and in Romansh-speaking Switzerland: up close - and as varied as that... The documentary has been in German.
Watch here in German: