Mariagrazia Distante

It was the spring of 2006. My son was attending primary school in the province of Treviso when, with the natural ease typical of children, he told me: "Mum, there are two kittens playing with us at school". A novice volunteer with an animal protection association, I rushed to the rescue, but found only one of them — a grey tabby kitten about three months old. I must confess I had never touched a cat before then, having grown up with dogs. The association's president told me to take her to the vet for her vaccinations and foster her for a week, but during that time something unexpected happened: my husband fell in love with the little creature my son had named Gaia. Twenty years have passed and we are lucky to still have Gaia with us. Living with a feline has taught me to appreciate the beauty and sweetness of these wonderful creatures, to the point of feeling the need to help the invisible, defenceless felines that populate our city streets. Driven by a strong sense of justice in defending animal rights, in 2016 I decided to launch a pilot project to give an identity to nobody's cats and to those who care for them.