Torre Argentina in Rome: a sanctuary for history and cats.
(Extrapolated from Roman Cats Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary official site https://www.gattidiroma.net/web/en/ )
The workers that in 1926 were busy demolishing the crumbling Medieval houses in the area of via San Nicola deâ Cesarini would not have fancied finding themselves in front of the austere face of a huge statue of a goddess. A fierce dispute between the owners of the area and the archaelogists, who wanted to go on with the excavations and with the conservation of the area, soon turned on and only in 1928, thanks to the Head of Government at the time, the dispute was solved in favour of the Ministry of Fine Arts.
The name âArgentinaâ does not refer either to the nation or to the metal, it comes from the Latin name of a tower that had been built in the 15th century by Johannes Burckardt, Master of Ceremonies of Pope Alessandro VI Borgia, who was born in StrasbourgâŚ.that is Argentoratum! And for the inhabitants of Rome, itâs a short step to go from Argentoratum to Argentina!
Now the tower is not there to be seen any more, since it has been incorporated in buildings that showed up later on.
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 streeât level. From 19ââ29 until 1993, the cats were more or less regulary fed by a succession of cat ladies or "gattare".
One of the most famous of these cat lovers was the great Italian filmstar Anna Magnani. While working at Teatro Argentina which borders the ruins, Ms. Magnani would spend her breaks feeding her four legged friends. This film legend, famous for her heart-tugging performances, died in the 1960's.
Lia and Silvia started working with the cats in 1993 when they began helping a woman who was running the show alone: feeding, spaying and neutering all the cats. Her generous efforts put her on the verge of an economic and emotional collapse. Soon Lia and Silvia realised there was a lot more work than the three women could manage. In that year the cat population was 90 and growing due to the irresponsibility of people abandoning their cats and kittens, perhaps to go on vacation. And so, Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary was born.
Working conditions were primitive to say the least. A cave like area under the street had been unwittingly created by the construction of the street and the pillars that sustain it long before the cat shelter began. It had a floor space of about 100 sq. meters and it began as a night shelter for the cats and as a storage place for cat food. It was a difficult and frustrating job. Caring for more than 90 cats in a damp underground space, in many places so low that one cannot stand up and no electricity or running water. For almost a year and a half Silvia and Lia worked under these conditions, hoping for a breakthrough or a guide through this dark period.
Their prayers were answered in 1995 when a savior arrived: an English woman named Molga Salvalaggio. She told Silvia and Lia about the wonderful achievements of certain English organizations who worked in animal protection and she put them in contact with A.I.S.P.A. (Anglo-Italian Society for the Protection of Animals). A.I.S.P.A. was the first organisation to give material as well as moral support. In addition, they introduced Silvia and Lia to English resources concerning stray cats and solutions to frequent problems who studied this invaluable information and began the slow process of imitating English role models.
The first job was to raise desperately needed funds. The primitive location had one great advantage; it was a tourist attraction because of the historical and archaeological significance of the ruins. Painfully swallowing pride and embarrassment Silvia and Lia started approaching tourists who seemed more interested in the cats than the ruins and asked for donations. Unbelievably it worked! Not only did they collect needed cash, they also managed to attract a certain number of volunteers; mostly women of many different nationalities, Italian, French German, American, English, Brazilian, and Dutch. Torre Argentina became a sort of United Nations for cats. To raise more money they started organizing fundraising dinners, raffles and flea market sales.â
In September of 1998, a Captain of the U.S. Navy, John Henriksen and his wife Cheryl generously opened their home to 120 people for a dinner, auction and raffle, our first Gala. Later, Alexandra Richardson, wife to the British Ambassador allowed the volunteers to hold a fundraiser/Gala at her residence. Several more Galaâs followed the following years and provided badly needed funds.
With the newly found income, TA could afford cat food of better quality and the new burst of enthusiasm also motivated Silvia, Lia and their team of volunteers to become more professional and organized in daily operations.Â
Now their cats, in addition to ALL being dutifully neutered, are also ALL vaccinated, tested and free from internal and external parasites.
What remains after having provided for the animals is shared with other less fortunate colonies here in Rome.
Obviously sterilization is the top priority. People who manage cat sanctuaries can have help for the sterilization of their cats from the veterinarians affiliated with the Torre Argentina sanctuary and are also able to help private citizens who are not well-off.
The reduction of feline stray animals is the main purpose of the activity of the Torre Argentina sanctuary which wants to be known above all as a Center for the Promotion of Sterilization and not as a reception center for stray cats in difficulty. But the popularity of the colony also among the Romans means that the requests for hospitality are always higher than the real possibilities of the organization itself. They are therefore forced to severely limit the access of new animals only to those cases that offer no other possibility of solution. However, mutilated, blind or variously suffering from disability cats are welcomed with absolute precedence.
