Feeding stray cats is prohibited. Fines up to €500. Just reading these lines is enough to spark outrage on social media and reverberate in newsrooms across Italy. But behind the ordinance signed on October 13, 2025, by the mayor of Comabbio, Mariolino Deplano, lies no crusade against animals. Quite the opposite. It's an administrative decision aimed at protecting them, regulating a situation that has become unmanageable.
Mariolino Deplano, 69, who has been mayor of this residential town of 1,200 inhabitants in the province of Varese for a year, has ended up in the media crosshairs.
Sardinian by origin—born in Tertenia, father of Gairo and mother of Baunei—Deplano left the island at the age of eight, but Sardinia, he says in limba, "is in my heart and in my blood." Before settling in Comabbio twelve years ago, far "from the chaos of the city," he bluntly described himself as "a vagabond."
Today, he's the subject of a controversy that, via social media, has spread beyond Lombardy's borders. A municipal ordinance prohibits residents from feeding cats that live between Via Lucio Fontana, Via ai Prati, and the surrounding areas.
A decision that, on the surface, seems cruel. But in reality, it stems from a shared approach with the ATS Insubria veterinary service.
"They're accusing me of working against cats," Deplano says, "but it's exactly the opposite. This measure is to protect their health, prevent the spread of diseases, and keep the feline population under control. And I say this as an animal lover: I have six cats at home."
In the area affected by the ordinance, the municipality has officially established a cat colony, entrusting its responsibility to the mayor himself.
