Imagine a charming village nestled along the tranquil hills of Italy’s Lake Orta, where the streets are filled not with cars and people, but with artwork of cats as well as real cats lounging in the warm Mediterranean sun. The Brolo cat village is a picturesque cat village that has captured the hearts of travellers and locals alike by sharing artwork, statues and paintings of cats.
Read on to see our impressions, cat photos, some history of Brolo, a map to explore the Brolo cat village and a few real cats we met during our visit to the village.
First Impressions Cat Village Brolo
Our first impressions of the Brolo village was that it’s definitely a small village. It’s just a small location with houses with one local restaurant. You wouldn’t need to spend much time here to get a good impression of it.
The village is home to Villa Tarsis, built for the Tarsis family first in 1650, with further construction in 1750 to expand the house due to the family becoming larger. It has an interesting Italian garden and a façade decorated with valuable frescoes.
The village of Brolo is popular for all the cat themed murals depicting cats of all kinds.
How To Get To Brolo
The village is located in the north west area of Lake Orta in Piedmont, Italy. It is a very small village just a short distance from Omegna, which is a much bigger location with restaurants and a few shops. The village is officially part of the Nonio commune.
It is reachable best by car or bike, to the following google maps address:
Via Cregno, 6-1, 28891 Brolo VB, Italy
There is some parking on the main road that you will see, but keep in mind it might be full during busy periods.
History of Brolo Cat Village
The local parish church dedicated to Sant’Antonio dates back to the 16th century, which expanded in the 17th and 18th century. This resulted in the institution being created on 27th April 1767, separating Nonio. This was supported by Lorenzo Angelo Tarsis (linked from Villa Tarsis) with the wealthiest and most powerful families of Brolo village.
Due to the parochialism (a limited or narrow outlook, especially focused on a local area) of the locals, the nickname of the villagers became ‘gatti’ (meaning cat in Italian), was given to the inhabitants of the village of Brolo.
When the villagers of Nonio had first heard of this request to separate, a joke was made: “When Brolo becomes a parish, the mouse will put on a cloak”. So once Brolo did obtain a parish, they went back to Nonio to hang a mouse with a cloak on to the doors of the Nonio elders.
Since then, Brolo is known as the ‘town of cats’.
Route Map of Brolo Cat Village
The village has a leaflet you can pick up and use for your exploration around the cat village. But we’ve included a photo of it here for digital access.
There are a few main points on the map to walk to, and you can wander through the side streets as well which you may find a kitty or two at.
We followed the route from 1 to 5, including a few extra side streets. This did not take longer than 30 minutes. The village is on the mountain side which is not that steep, but it was not fully flat either and included steps along the way.
TIP: When you’ve finished the walk around the village, we suggest putting the leaflet back for the next visitors to use. Rather than simply keeping or destroying the paper when home.
Local Tours At Lake Orta
Orta San Giulio: Motorboat Transfer to Isola San Giulio
Waterfall tour in E-bike with aperitif
Cat Paintings, Artwork and Statues!
The whole village has cat artwork on what we could see on every street. The houses have a cat painted tile next to their door number, so if you live here, the postman would recognise your cat tile as well as your number!
Many locals also have cat themed designs in their windows or in their gardens, such as cat statues along the pathways and cat themed plant pots.
The artwork hung up around the village shares a range of cats with all different painting styles, and we even spotted a few famous cats painted here (like Sylvester and tweety!)
Real Cats in Brolo Cat Village?
So you’re probably wondering if you can also see some real cats here? The answer is yes!
During our visit, we saw one beautiful grey cat in one of the side streets. Then we saw 3 adorable kittens relaxing in the shade together, as well as a 4th sat on the wall nearby. Lastly we saw another beautiful cat with tiger stripy fur, also relaxing in the shade in another side street.
However do keep in mind these are either local resident cats or strays, and not always going to be visible during a walk here. So do not get disappointed if you do not see any real cats!
Funnily enough though, we also heard and saw many dogs while walking around. We think a few of them were visitors like us just enjoying the walk around, and a few others were definitely local residents. So it’s true that you could be living in a cat village but own a dog!
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Summary Brolo cat village
We found the village walk and exploration really small but sweet to experience. The artwork is a range of every style you can think of, which is hanging everywhere on the walls and streets to also door numbers and window decorations. Many also have cat themed statues, glass and plant pots too.
We think it would be great for those with children, where you can spot all the cat themed artwork as you walk around. Some of them are quite unique and funny!
If you wanted to see every single piece of cat themed artwork here, it would definitely take you more than our own 30 minute walk around!
It was overall nice to explore, great for a little walk and to of course see some real cats relaxing here.
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