24 votes

Ancient Roman temple complex, with ruins of building where Caesar was stabbed, opens to tourists

3 comments

  1. [2]
    crowsby
    Link
    I love that the site of Julius Caesar's murder has essentially been primarily a cat sanctuary for quite a while now. You can even sponsor or adopt the cats.

    I love that the site of Julius Caesar's murder has essentially been primarily a cat sanctuary for quite a while now. You can even sponsor or adopt the cats.

    8 votes
    1. Greyshuck
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      This was a clear inspiration for a section in one of Lord Dunsany's short stories: "The Idle City". It is the third of the embedded stories.

      This was a clear inspiration for a section in one of Lord Dunsany's short stories: "The Idle City". It is the third of the embedded stories.

      1 vote
  2. Thales
    Link
    I was in Rome just last month and a visit to the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary was one of the most memorable stops on our trip! The cats in the sanctuary itself are picked up from around the city,...

    I was in Rome just last month and a visit to the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary was one of the most memorable stops on our trip!

    The cats in the sanctuary itself are picked up from around the city, neutered/fixed, and then released back into the place they were found because cats have special legal protection in Rome. Roman Law 281 states that:

    Cats can live wherever they choose and it is against the law to remove them by force and relocate them
    Cats have a right to be fed in their chosen refuge

    The only cats that are kept permanently at the sanctuary are cats which are blind. There is a special section in the sanctuary where you can go play with the blind cats, which were very cute.

    There's an error in the article, however: the signs around Torre Argentina explicitly state that you should NOT feed the cats. Doing so apparently encourages them to leave the ruins to pester humans for food and puts them at risk of getting run over on the busy streets that surround the site.

    3 votes