Cats of Rome Review

Tanmoy's review

" Where Emperors Ruled & Cats Now Reign " .. At the site where Julius Caesar is believed to have been stabbed to death, right in the heart of historic Rome, you can visit the city's vast feline population.

From Day 8: Venice to Rome in Rome, Italy on Jun 15 '06

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The 'gattare'

1929 was the year the sacred area of Torre Argentina was excavated. This was also the year the history of the cats residency began. Stray and abandoned felines took refuge in the protected area below street level. From 1929 until 1993, the cats were more or less regularly fed by a succession of cat ladies or 'gattare' as they are called condescendingly by the Romans.

The Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary, at Largo di Torre Argentina (tel. 06-6872133; www.romancats.de), is at the intersection of via Arenula and via Florida, right off Corso Vittorio Emanuele, a short walk from the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Where four Republican-era temples dating from 200 to 300 B.C. once stood, today some 300 abandoned house cats are cared for by a group of volunteers. Cats in all shapes and sizes are everywhere, craving human attention. Some of them find homes with visitors from around the world. The attraction can be visited daily from noon to 6pm (until 8pm in summer). The cats will be waiting.

Every tourist visiting Rome senses it : Rome's cats are different . Unlike the cuddly and sometimes aloof balls of fur you're likely to know and love, Rome's cats, the ones you see, are largely feral, prowling ancient monuments as if they owned them and answering to no one.

There are estimated to be 300,000 feral cats in Rome living in over 2000 colonies.

Where did all these cats come from?

When the ancient Egyptian empire fell, the felines boarded sailing vessels and scattered themselves around the world. Lucky for Rome, some of them ended up here to help maintain the rat problem, which was good during the 1300's when the bubonic plague arrived in Italy.

Here is a nicely written article by Pamela Sergent ....

Pamela Sargent's "The Cats of Rome"