Hi there Stefano!
I understand your hesitation, but in fact I think this is one of the main "problems" Catalonia has right at the moment. Not only in the rest of the world, but also in the rest of Spain: media is only covering the current radical movement pro independence, and it lacks lots of context on what has happened some years before (either on purpose, or because it was not enough important back then).
Basically, you said it: "Federalism seems to be smarter". This is what was more or less asked back in 2002, if I remember correctly. Back then, there was no financial crisis, there was no social crack since both the autonomic and central government where affine (the Socialist left party was a majority on both sides)... so just in a friendly attempt to upgrade that "pseudo-federalist" model which was inherited from the transition to democracy in the 70's, Catalonia asked for a reformation of the "Estatut d'Autonomia" in 2005. The idea was to basically review the economical model in which the taxes are shared amongst all autonomous regions in Spain, and move more powers in education, health, etc. to the regional government. The previous model was appropriate back in the transition to a "new" Spain after the dictatorship, but outdated nowadays that economy and society has evolved. In any case, that reformation preserved the condition of Catalonia being a region inside the model of Spain based on autonomous communities. After some years, this reformation was finally revoked by the central government. (Bonus pack: other regions such as Extremadura presented similar reformations and were accepted. But they didn't talk about regional languages or identities, which has always been a delicate topic here)
Then lots of things changed. Changes of direction between the central government (PP, right-wing; and CIU/PDECAT mainly here, also right/center-wing and catalan nationalist), and crisis, corruption scandals... Of course crisis, corruption... were not the main reasons, but from a social perspective, a discontent started to become more evident and it helped to spread the idea that "we can not be worst than we are now with such a central government, and we are grown-ups enough to use our already deployed justice, education, tax, and police systems as a standalone country". It is important to say that, before last week's referendum, there have been previous votes (2006, 2010, 2014) and demonstrations (each September 11th after 2010), with a clear attempt to dialogue, before the extreme position at the moment. Add the extreme repression that finally took place last week, the lack of a coherent campaign for a "no"... and the result is this final boom. Plus, after all the scandals in the central government, PP still gets ¡absolute! majority in the senate, so what can Catalonia negotiate there? EVERYTHING gets denied, even when it's rational.
So, from abroad, Catalonia might look obsessed with this "independence or nothing" thing. But it comes from a looong long discussion, which has reached its deadlock with Rajoy's executive. It has perhaps gained an international focus of attention now, showing only the idea of radicalism, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm not sure whether independence, all of a sudden and without any solid transition plan, will be the a feasible solution. But to be honest, I'm more scared of the social consequences than of the economical ones. The atmosphere now in the streets is really delicate... and ALL media are manipulated (from the Catalan, Spanish and international sides)