When I was 10 years old, I went to Rome for the first time.  My dad took us to the Colosseum, where the ancient structure, as well as the hundreds of cats roaming the ruins of the Colosseum, held my undivided attention.

Roman cat on the Appian way

Roman cat on the Appian Way (Via Appia)

The city of Rome is dotted with ruins and on this last trip to Rome, Rick and I happened to walk by the ancient Largo di Torre Argentina.   Largo di Torre Argentina, sitting 15 feet below the street’s surface,  is an ancient Roman square, or piazza,  with heaps of stones from Roman temples piled on lush overgrown grass.  This square also holds the remains of Pompey’s Theater which was a gem in its day, buzzing with theaters, shops, and dazzling marble towers and homes.  This particular place drew our attention because of the numbers of cats lounging and playing.  Torre di Argentina is a no-kill cat sanctuary!

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Tourists and Romans alike, congregate near the walls surrounding the enclosed sunken grassy stone-strewn piazza just to observe the cats!  Some of the cats were snoozing, some were doing their toilette, and others were jumping the walls, and climbing up the steps to get some lovin’ and pettin’ from the crowds of cat lovers!  These cats were docile and sweet and looking for attention or an occasional plate of pasta.

The cats of Rome, otherwise known as I Gatti di Roma, are protected.  Our waiter, one night, enthusiastically told us all about the movement to protect the cats.   There is an annual calendar that comes out, I Gatti di Roma, featuring incredible photos of cats snuggling in the gigantic hand of a  statue,  or sunning themselves on a giant marble toe belonging to a headless statue of an unknown god. I would love to live in Rome just to capture photos like this one:

Featured on the calendar, I Gatti Di Roma. I'd love to capture images like this!

Featured on the calendar, I Gatti Di Roma. I’d love to capture images like this!

All proceeds of the calendar go to feeding the cats, giving the cats medical attention if needed, and to providing continued shelter for them.  I was very surprised to see the cat calendar being sold alongside postcards, as well as alongside another equally popular calendar featuring handsome young Vatican priests.  The latter really caught me off guard.  I guess I just don’t know what to say about a world that puts out a calendar featuring “hot” Vatican priests.  Somehow, that seems a bit warped to me.  Maybe I am the one who is warped, but I’d much rather see cute fluffy Roman cats sunning themselves on the very stones which, in 44 B.C.,  heard Julius Caesar utter his last words , “Et Tu Brute”.

Hard to believe this was the scene of a stabbing.

Perhaps, if we listen carefully, echoes of “Et tu Brute” can still be heard?

So, of course, this area is controversial.  The cat sanctuary of Largo di Torre Argentina has become a site of contention between cat-loving Romans who want to keep the cats safe verses the archeologists, historians, and politicians who cannot tolerate the idea of cats lounging in the very place where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death.  Of course, all this hoo-ha makes the place MOST intriguing.

Solar heated slabs of stone

Solar heated slabs of stone!