Italian Kitties

I love this story about cats in Rome. It lets me daydream, first about Rome, which is a city that called my name louder than I expected. I enjoyed visiting Rome much more than I thought I would, and the ruins are, of course, so much a part of the reason why.

I don’t remember seeing a lot of cats there, or a lot of postcards with cats from there. I visited the Eternal City on the day of Pope John Paul’s 25th anniversary as Pope. That time was a magical, beautiful time and Rome was full of pilgrims and people from all over the world, waiting to celebrate with the Pope. The evening news captured every part of it.

I was astounded to find out that you could simply walk through most of the ruins like you would a park. What a thrill. It is the backyard of many modern Romans, is it not?

So why not a backyard for kitties?

On all of our trips abroad, my husband tends to take lots of pictures of the kitties we encounter, and Rome was no exception. The kitties in Spain were much friendlier than in Italy; they actually let you pet them, even if you didn’t have treats for them. Another famous cat sanctuary is the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. The kitties there are very fond of lounging on the park benches.

My personal favorite sighting of a kitty was in Plaza Major in Madrid. We were enjoying tapas and wine there, when I spotted “el gato” running along the top of the roof of the building across the plaza.

Now, for months before our trip, we subjected our own two kitties to Spanish names: “el gato chico” and “la gato chica.” Their puzzled looks always cracked me up, especially since I’m really not sure if they translated to “boy-cat” and “girl-cat.” So when I spotted the kitty way up there on the top of that roof, I yelled out, EL GATO! The we laughed and laughed.

Janet Muniz

(photo credit: wtlphotos)

April 15th, 2009 by Pet Guy | Posted in Breeds | (0)