Telegatto (a composition oftelevision andgatto, meaning "cat", after the trophy, which is a small statue representing a cat), was an Italian television award first conceived in 1971 following the contestGran Premio internazionale dello Spettacolo, although the first award ceremony wasn't held until 1984. The ceremonies are known asTelegatti, the plural form of Telegatto. They were sponsored by the weekly magazineTV Sorrisi e Canzoni and broadcast onCanale 5. The prize was a golden cat statue with the network's initials on its face, inspired by a cartoon from the television seriesSuper Classifica Show, a cult show in the 1980s and early 1990s. The award ceremony was cancelled in 2009.
On 12 March 2018, on the occasion of a press conference for the photography book dedicated to the event,[1] and a decade after the last edition, the director ofTV Sorrisi e Canzoni, Aldo Vitali, hypothesized the return of the event in Milan for October of the same year, to be hosted byCarlo Conti. The show, however, never resurfaced.[2]
^abcOppo, Maria Novella (5 May 1997)."Telegatti senza sorprese, vince sempre lo show" [Telegatti without surprises, the show always wins](PDF). Gli Spettacoli.L'Unità (in Italian). Archivio storico digitale (1946-2014). Retrieved14 January 2025.tra i premiati (per il cinema straniero in tv) il bellissimo Johnny Depp [among the award winners (for foreign cinema on TV) the beautiful Johnny Depp]
^"Elizabeth Taylor".The Australian. Retrieved14 January 2025.at the Telegatti television awards, in Milan, Italy. She received the popularly-voted prize in 2001.
^"2001 Telegatti".cinemaitaliano.info (in Italian). Retrieved14 January 2025.Premio 'Telegatto' alla Carriera: ["Telegatto" Lifetime Achievement Award]
^"Telegatto choc" [Telegatto shock].Film.it (in Italian). Retrieved15 January 2025.Premi speciali di questa serata per...Liz Taylor, Robert Wagner (per il telefilm cultCuore e batticuore) [Special awards this evening for...Liz Taylor, Robert Wagner (for the cult TV seriesHart to Hart)]
^"Robert Wagner".notiziecinema.it (in Italian). Retrieved15 January 2025.Telegatto Vinti: Premio Cult TV, (2001) [Telegatto Won: Cult TV Award, (2001)]
