Rome’s cat sanctuaries will be discovered at key historic websites.
Rome has a centuries-old custom of caring for its stray cats, in a particular bond that stretches again to historic Roman occasions and continues to at the present time.
The historic hyperlinks between Rome and its felines will be traced again to the fifth century, in accordance with the capital’s web site, after carbon relationship confirmed proof of a cat colony at Trajan’s Markets.
Cats seem within the sonnets of Trilussa and Belli, whereas the Twentieth-century Italian author Giani Rodari in a poem described the cats of Rome as “cultured cats” that “solely collect in essentially the most celebrated locations” such because the Pantheon and the Forum”.
“They are poor and mangy […] But the Romans of Rome know the reality, they usually love metropolis cats very a lot”, Rodari writes.
Today the town is home to greater than 5,000 cat colonies registered with Rome well being authorities, with a number of cat shelters situated amongst landmark heritage websites within the capital.
The most well-known cat sanctuary in Rome will be discovered among the many ruins on the archaeological website of Largo di Torre Argentina, the location of Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC.
The shelter, open to guests each day between noon and 16.30, gives a long-distance adoption scheme that enables individuals to “undertake” cats in alternate for a donation to assist volunteers take care of the animals of their care.
Rome even has a phrase for the volunteers, historically primarily ladies, who feed and deal with stray cats: “gattare“.
The finest recognized gattara was the Oscar-winning Rome actress Anna Magnani who recurrently fed the cats of Largo Argentina.
Rome just lately granted protected standing to the Colonia Felina di Torre Argentina in addition to one other well-known cat sanctuary on the grounds of the town’s solely surviving historic Egyptian-style pyramid within the Testaccio district.
The cat shelter at Piramide will mark Festa del Gatto – Italy’s nationwide day in celebration of cats – with a sequence of occasions on Saturday 17 February.
