We spent an afternoon wandering around Rome, making our way through different neighborhoods, and…read morecame across the Largo di Torre Argentina entirely by accident. It looked significant, so we walked over and read up on what we were seeing.
Turns out this is where it is commonly believed that Julius Caesar met his et tu end. Rome, right? There's no avoiding sites of staggering historic importance.
The site is now a sort of open square, fenced off in such a way that you can't just walk in but can see everything from the street. It contains four Roman Republican temples and the remains of Pompey's Theatre, apparently the first permanent theatre to be built in Rome, completed in 55 BC. Julius Caesar was assassinated at Pomepy's Theatre, so I guess even if it didn't happen within the square, it was certainly close enough.
Two thousand years and change later, Largo di Torre Argentina became an official cat sanctuary, with a shelter opening in 1993. My husband visited Rome in 1997 and remembers seeing cats everywhere. He says there are noticeably fewer now, and I think we only saw one when we visited this square.
Though did I see a cat, or do I just know, reading about the place now, that I was maybe supposed to see one? I honestly can't say. But in my mind, I can picture a cat, fluffy and grimy, resting by the fence. The picture of Caesar is less defined, but I can see him there too, leaving his blood in the square.
