"La gatta" (lit. 'The female cat') is a 1960 song written and recorded by Gino Paoli.

Initially, the single was a resounding fiasco, selling only 119 copies in about three months.^[1][2] In the following months, without any promotion and thanks to word of mouth it eventually proved to be a surprise hit and Paoli's breakthrough, selling up to over one hundred thousand copies in a week.^[1]

The song is a nostalgical autobiographical portrait of Paoli's simple, bohémien life in his small apartment in Boccadasse, Genoa.^[2] According to Paoli, the cat represented "all my hopes, my romanticism, my desire to look up in the air, to look at the sky".^[2] In 2012, Paoli adapted the song in an illustrated book for children.^[3]

Artists who also recorded the song include Ornella Vanoni, Gianni Morandi, Little Tony, Róisín Murphy, Skip Battin and Carla Boni.^[1][4] In 2011, Paoli recorded a new version of the song titled "La chatta" in a duet with Daniele Silvestri for Silvestri's album S.C.O.T.C.H.^[5][6]