In the historical center of Rome, from the palace of Doria-Pamphili on the street - Via del Corso, stretches Via della Gatta - Cat Street. Once in this place, the guests of the eternal city are initially surprised by such an unusual name, and then look around, looking for cats.
No, there are no more here than on other old streets of Rome. And the name came from the marble statue of a cat, sheltered on the ledge of the palace of Grazioli (Palazzo Grazioli).
Palazzo Grazioli was built in the sixteenth century, has a facade with pilasters and capitals, and in the center of the facade of the Palazzo there are majestic gates protected by two Doric columns and crowned with a beautiful balcony overlooking the Via del Plebiscito. Today, the historic Palazzo Grazioli is the official Roman residence of the former Prime Minister of Italy - Silvio Berlusconi.
Of course, the romantic inhabitants of the Eternal City could not come to terms with such a simplified appearance of the name of the street della Gatta.
“Well, for no reason a marble cat can appear on the ledge of a palace,” said one Roman journalist. “There is something hidden behind this agile, ubiquitous, wayward creature ... Take a look at his face.” There is a complete secret in her. From where it came, what it thinks about and where it suddenly disappears - no one will guess ...
And other inhabitants of Rome picked up this idea: they just don’t sculpt cats from marble! ...
There were meticulous lovers of ancient secrets who unearthed information that in the first years after the construction of the Grazioli palace, there was no cat on its eaves.
One of the owners of this magnificent building did not want his daughter to meet with a poor, and besides a foreign officer. But the young people loved each other and secretly dated their harsh father.
When the owner of the house found out about this, he put his daughter under lock and key. Lovers could only exchange notes. The cat helped them in this. Why suddenly the cat became a working courier remains a mystery.
Love messages were tied with a thread on the cat's belly. Thick wool hid notes, and strict father could not find them.
Finally, the lovers conspired to flee from Rome. The officer wrote a detailed escape plan. As usual, he kept a cat on the side of the street opposite the palace and attached a message to it.
And then trouble happened. Crossing the road, a tailed courier got under the wheel of a carriage and died.
The correspondence between the lovers was interrupted, and it was no longer possible to agree on an escape. The regiment in which the officer served was transferred from Rome or altogether from Italy to another place.
It is not known what happened to the girl, but, according to legend, it was she who after some time ordered the marble statue of her faithful cat, who died during the execution of the order.
The sculpture was installed next to the windows of the room where the daughter of the owner of the palace languished locked up.
Since then, the Roman lovers have a tradition: to visit Gatta Street, to stand at the Grazioli Palace and, looking at the marble cat, make a wish.
When exactly these cute animals appeared in Rome, nobody knows for sure. Some believe that they were brought from Egypt two and a half thousand years ago. Others believe that cats were brought to the eternal city by Greek merchants after the Romans defeated Carthage.
Today, these animals have become an integral part of the Italian capital. They can be found on the streets and in parks, among historical ruins and in offices, in the apartments of the poor and wealthy citizens.
But there were times when in Rome cats were threatened with total annihilation. Struggling with heretics, witches and sorcerers, some heads of the Catholic Church declared these animals accomplices of the devil, messengers of hell and dark forces.
Cats were burned, drowned, hung, poisoned by dogs. But after the plague epidemic, when people discovered the relationship of the terrible disease with rats, the reprisals against cats stopped.
The first wave of this global epidemic, in the VI century, killed almost half, and the second, in the middle of the XIV century, killed two-thirds of the inhabitants of the eternal city.
So not only geese, but also these agile, omnipresent, wayward animals also saved Rome.
Who knows what would become of a great city, if you didn’t protect cats from rodents? ...