Torre Argentina
Gattaras. It's the Italian name for women who feed and care for stray cats. It's not necessarily a flattering term, but at least two "gattaras" are happy to accept the mantle: Lia Dequel and Sylvia Viviani, who run the
Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary, which helps to care for the strays who occupy the Roman ruins.
"Yes, we are Cat Ladies," Dequel told Stripes.com recently. "And be sure to write that with capital letters!"
Practically everyone who's ever had a Roman holiday has come home with photo albums filled with images of the many stray cats that haunt the ruins of the Field of Mars, the Theater of Pompey, the Colosseum and the Forum. The famous felines have even been recognized by Rome's city council, which declared the city's estimated 300,000 cats an official part of its "bio-cultural heritage."
According to Dequel, "It's a tradition in Rome. When you see ruins, you can dump your cats. They'll find someone to take care of them."
And most times they will, thanks to the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary. Dequel and Viviani took over the sanctuary 16 years ago, and with the help of volunteers and the Anglo Italian Society for the Protection of Animals (AISPA), they changed it from a small, cavelike room under the street without electricity or running water into a clean, bright refuge.
Torre Argentina
The space itself is uniquely located under a busy street, and as Dutch volunteer Karen Cortese told Paw Nation, "We are still squatters and never completely sure if we will be allowed to stay or whether one day we will be evicted. We are still not attached to the sewer system, a big hurdle we have not been able to overcome yet!"
Despite these obstacles, the sanctuary has managed to make a difference for the felines of Rome. Cortese pointed out that many people don't know how most stray males are FiV positive, and many kittens are born with serious eye problems that will lead to blindness.
Medical attention, along with spaying and neutering, can help these cats, and for many of them, this unusual organization of dedicated volunteers toiling away beneath the street is a literal life saver.