Italy is full of cats: country cats, city cats, polite cats, rakish cats, fat cats (!) and hungry cats.  Just the other day when I went to throw away the garbage a cat leapt out of the box and made me jump a mile.

Every town has at least one Cat Lady (or man, but usually a lady – why?) – that person who puts out an old tin pan of food for the cats whom no one else is feeding.  Cats come and go as they wish.  If a door or window is open, sooner or later a cat is going to go through it.

Last time I was in Rome I noticed there were a lot fewer cats than the previous visit.  Perhaps there is a cat control policy there now – I hope so.  Anyone know?

I’ve been addicted to taking photos of cats since we moved here.  No matter what the scene, a cat seems to make it more picturesque. Over on the right in Links you’ll find Cats of Italy – click on it (if you dare!) and you will be whisked away to a web album of part of my collection.  I really DID edit some of them out – honest.  (It took a lot of self-control not to put all of Luciano’s portraits in.)  I recommend using the Slideshow option if you really are going to look at all those cats.