I hope Mantrini won’t mind, but I just have to share this story…
As I’ve mentioned before, I was one of six Americans who moved to Ananda Assisi in 2002 as part of a singing group that toured Italy for a couple of years. Of course, we all tried to learn some Italian as quickly as possible.
We were frequently at the home of our manager, Rosella (for meetings, rehearsal, coffee, or delicious meals), and there were usually a few outdoor cats hanging around.
The Italian word for cat is “gatto.”
As we were arriving at Rosella’s one afternoon Mantrini (another one of the singers) didn’t see any cats, so she asked: “Quando il gatto?” (When is the cat?).
Now, we all knew that what she meant to say was: “Dov’รจ il gatto” (Where is the cat?), but it was too adorably funny and we couldn’t resist teasing her about it for days.
Fast forward to our first three-week tour, which included Lugano. Much hilarity ensued when we happened to see the boutique, “Il Gatto”!
Now that you know the backstory, I’m sure you can appreciate how delighted I was to discover that the “Il Gatto” boutique is still there, reminding me of those sweet memories from over twenty years ago.