Quarantaquattro gatti

Forty-four cats

This song won the tenth edition of the Zecchino d'Oro, the festival of children's songs that was held at the Antoniano in Bologna and broadcast by the RAI. It was 1968, the year of student unrest, and the words of Quarantaquattro gatti took the themes and expressions of the moment into the animal sphere: the cats “organized a meeting/to clarify the situation”. Then they decided to act: "they joined unanimously/lined up by sixes with the remainder of two" and "at the end of the meeting/the situation was clear". The children could pull their tails and play with everyone. It was presented by little Barbara Ferigo, from Gorizia - She was four years old and the protagonist of the festival along with the child who came third, a certain Cristina D'Avena, three years old, who sang Il valzer del moscerino, and was destined to become a unique diva for children. Quarantaquattro gatti won by a single point over Il torero camomillo and had the honour of being presented by Mina on television and then entering the repertoire of standards (a rarity for children's songs). Forty years later (2018), the RAI, in collaboration with the Antoniano, created an animated series with the same title that tells the story of a musical band made up of four kittens.