Mafia Moive Marathon Day

"The humans think they are the ones running the world, but we all know that they are just puppets. It is we, the average house pet, who are pulling all the strings."- Don Opus Gatone


Welcome to the Mafia Movie Marathon! Please come in and make yourselves comfortable. The movies will be starting soon. In the meantime, help yourself to some food and drinks. Machinegun Sassy was kind enough to raid a Speak Easy in Chicago and brought with her some boot-leg beer. We also have popcorn and Dr. Peper, gifts from Don Pyewacket, Don Tigger and Don Trixie of the Canberra Crime family. A big thanks to our friend Karl for bringing the catnip! Our human has made a batch of lasagna and some Italian sausage for us to enjoy. Do you know what they call Italian sausage in Italy? Sausage.

There is plenty of room on the chairs and couch, so get comfortable. We have also put pillows and blankets on the floor for those of you who have been trained to stay off of the furniture.

Let me start by introducing myself.

I am Don Opus Gattone of the Catania crime family (Gattone is Italian for "big cat"). My people came from a large city in Sicily, Catania, from which our family takes it name. My grandfather came to America as a young kitten when the local crime boss placed a hit on him. He settled in New York where he started his new life working as an honest man. Later he got into the olive oil business, a lucrative one, but not as lucrative as "other work". And so, in a turn of events beyond his control, he got mixed up in the underworld and turned to a life of crime.


This is Lefty Litterpaw Roscoe. He is my brother, my right hand man and also the family consigliere (consular). He is a great asset to the family and my personal best friend. It is nice to know, in this world, that there is someone I can truly count on.

Now, I would like to introduce to a few other guests who have already arrived.

We have a couple of fun- loving flappers here tonight and what good looking flappers they are. As you can see, they have already hit the dance floor. Introducing....

Daisy

Asta

Ruis


and Karl.

Over there at the poker table are a few cats known around the world as the Canberra Mafia,

Don Pyewacket, Don Tigger and Don Trixi.

Bellied up to the bar is one cat that you don't want to mess with. Meet

Machinegun Sassy.

Looking rather dapper in his tuxedo, here is a cat who is always, first and foremost, a gentleman. Don't let the good looks deceive you, this is one tough cat. Meet...

Derby, the Enforcer.

Also dressed to the nines is a friend of ours...

Cavey Momo.

After we have had a chance to enjoy a few refreshments, we will start the movie marathon. On the list today; we will be showing Godfather One, Two and Three, Casino, The Good fellas, Donnie Brasco, and Scareface. Please make yourself at home and enjoy the party.

And please, if there is something you need, a favor for which you must ask, just come to me.

And now, the moives....

THE GODFATHER

GOODFELLAS

DONNIE BRASCO

SCARFACE

Wise Guys: Tomorrow

Just a reminder that tomorrow is our Mafia Movie Marathon. We will posting photos of our friend who come in costume (real or digital), so send us your photos (catnapsinitaly@yahoo.com). See you tomorrow or else you'll be sleeping with the fishes! -Opus

Ummmm, I like fishes.- Roscoe

You really gotta toughen up kid! - Opus

I Dare You

VOTE FOR US! Voting has begun at The Cat Realm. Head on over there and check out the funny humans dressed up.

Opus and I have decided to participate in The Cat Realm's "I Dare You" contest. This contest dared us animals to dress our humans up in a silly costume, like they are used to doing with us. No cat likes to have big bows tied around their necks only to have a photo of it posted in the Internet for all the world to see! We thought this would be the perfect way to get even with the female. We didn't have time to shop, so we dug through some old boxes and came up with a Dutch hat (which included red hair) a mask that was bought as the carnival of Venice last year, and we topped it off with a giant white bow! Take that human!

We had a hard time getting the photo as our human wouldn't look right at the camera. She also kept batting at her braids and tried to bite her bow off. At last we got the perfect shot and sent it on over to Karl at The Cat Realm. You can see by the look on her face just how excited she was to be participating in the contest.

Even if we don't win anything, dressing our human up in a silly outfit was reward enough!

Sunday: Mafia Movie Night

We all know that there is no such thing as the mafia, especially here in Italy (wink, wink), but we won't let that stop us from having Mafia Movie Night. You are all invited to stop by on Sunday when we will be hosting a movie marathon of nothing but mafia movies, our female human's favorite genre. There will be plenty of popcorn, candy and coke for everyone.


The party will start early (for our friends in Australia) and go late into the night (for our friends in North America). Come on by anytime you like!

Opus and I will be dressed up in our best "mafia outfit", you are welcome to dress up as well. Photos will be posted of any of our friends who come in costume. If you don't want to, that is OK too. We will just be happy to have you here.

Be sure to pick yourself out a mafia nickname, like Sammy the bull or Lucky Luciano. We will make a list of our "gumba" names.

Ci vediamo dominica (see you Sunday)! Or else you can just "fogettabouit"!

***If you plan to come in costume and would like your photo to appear on Sunday's post, please send your picture to catnapsinitaly@yahoo.com. Grazie. ***

Blog Blast for Peace

Did we miss it? Are we too late?
Peace to you all!

Welcome to the Town Tour

Thank you for being patient and waiting for our town tour; our human was out of town and the computer was off. We would like to thank our friends Momo the cat, Momo the dog, Sassy, Asta, Captain Jack and Dante for sticking around to join us on the tour. We would also like to invite you, the reader, along for the walk.

We live in a quiet, little town called Fusignano (pronounced Foo- see- nyah-no), we call it Fusi for short. It is a good, size town, not too big and not too small. Fusi is located in Emilia Romagna in the province of Ravenna. There are around 8,000 humans living here and countless more animals. Nothing much exciting happens in Fusi, but the people are friendly and life is tranquil.

The tour starts at our house. We live in a nice home at the end of quiet street that is lined with trees. Our house is the last one on the street and it is bordered by a small river called the Senio.

Are you ready for a walk into town?

This is our street, you can see that autumn is in full swing here. Soon the trees will be bare and then the fog will arrive. Late fall and winter can be very foggy in this part of Italy. In fact, this area (near the Delta Po region) is quiet famous for the fog. We think it is pretty, of course we always enjoy it from the warmth and comfort of our home. Are you getting tired? Don't worry, the town center is just a few blocks away.


This is our main square, called a piazza in Italian. The town piazza is a very important part of Italian life; you could say it is the heart of the town. Here you will always find people gathered either talking business or just gossiping. In the summer months there are concerts and after midnight mass, on Christmas eve, there is a party complete with live music, a bonfire and plenty of spiced, hot wine.

This small church was almost destroyed during world war two. In fact, most of our town was bombed as it was the scene of the front for four moths during the winter of 1945. When the allies liberated Fusignano that spring, there were only few building left and most the historical sites were gone. This church is now used as a shrine to the local fallen Italian soldiers. You could say this little church is the symbol of the town. Shall we hop on the steps for a photo? Everyone say cheese....



Let's continue on our tour. To the left is one of the few prewar buildings that survived. It is a private residence; some lucky people and their lucky pets get to live inside of it.

Up on the right another one of the few old building left in Fusi. It once was the town hospital, but now half of it is a pharmacy and the other half is an art museum. Our human male born here one wintry night many years ago.

We don't know about you guys, but all of this walking is making us thirsty. Are you ready to stop and rest your paws awhile? Let's stop off at a cafe to grab a drink and a snack. Cafes are a very important part of Italian life, there seems to be one (or more) on every block. Go inside anytime of the day and you almost surely find someone stopping in for a quick drink (usually some sort of coffee drink). This one is one of our favorite cafes, Bar Republica. We like this bar because this building is also another that survived the war. The facade of the building hasn't been touched since and, if you closely, you can still see bullet holes in it to this day.

Can we get you a cappuccino, espresso, or cafe latte? Who wants a snack? Have a seat and we will take care of everything. It is fun to just sit outside on a nice day and watch the traffic. How about another picture? CHEESE!


Did you see what is across the street? That is an authentic English telephone box! You are probably curious to know what an English telephone box is doing in Italy. Well, Fusiganno has a sister city on England and years ago they gave the telephone box to the town as a gift and as a sign of their friendship. It really works! Why don't we see if we can all fit inside at the same time!

Well, it is getting late so we had better get back home.

We had a great time showing our friends around our home. We have to come to love it here and hope that you all have enjoyed your visit.

Monday (late) Morning Advice

Well we had a great time on the town tour today. Thanks to all who stuck around so you could get a look at our village. We took some great photos and hope to get those up soon. Our human will be gone all day tomorrow, but she has promised to get the tour and the photos posted first thing on Wednesday.

Next up on the celebration list, Mafia movie night. Everyone who comes has to have a mafia name (like Sammy "the bull" or "Scarface"). So get your thinking caps on. Will post more details later.

And now for our Monday morning advice, if but a little late. This one comes to our email box from an anonymous sender.

Dear Opus and Roscoe,
Last night I stayed up all night, at a party, eating pizza and licking up catnip. Now I have a terrible headache and my tummy is burning. I think there just might be a fire in there. What can I do to survive the day?

Sincerely,
Firebreather

Dear Firebreather,
We think that many of us can relate to your problem this morning. Do what we did; a few Tums and return to bed immediately. You might want to consider getting your human to rub your belly, preferably while laying on a soft bed in a dark room. Best wishes to you and we hope you feel better soon.

Love,
Opus and Roscoe

**We retract our advice about taking aspring. You may do so ONLY if you are a human. The furry ones should stay clear of the stuff and stick to a belly rub. Thank you for your comments.**

Opus and Roscoe are looking for emails to use in their Monday monring advice column. If you have a question pertaining to care of or problems with your human, please write them at catnapsinitaly@yahoo.com. Thank you.

That Was Fun

A big thank you to all of our friends who stopped by our party yesterday. We had so much fun and thank you for helping us to celebrate our 3rd Moveaversary. Yahoo must have heard about our party because today they published an article about the history of pizza in America. Click here if you want read about it. Now you all have been to Italy, you know that there is a big difference between Italian pizza and American pizza; what they have in common is that they are delicious!

We hope you enjoyed the feast as much as we did. Sorry we fell asleep during the movie, but it was late and we are old cats.

To our friends who stayed the night, stick around. After we have had a good nap and a proper breakfast, we are going to take you on a tour of town. In the afternoon we can have some left over pizza and another nap. In the meantime, let's get a little more shut eye.

Thank you again to all who came!

Love,
Opus and Roscoe

PIZZA PARTY

Welcome to our pizza party! Today we are celebrating the third anniversary of when we moved to Italy! We just can't believe that it has already been three years since our paws first touched Italian soil. Where has the time gone?

Though we miss America, we just love living in Italy. The most popular question people (and animals) ask us is "what do we love best about living in Italy". There is just one simple word to answer that question, PIZZA!

Italy is the home of pizza and we just can't get enough of it. In Naples, six hours south of our home, is where the very fist pizza was made. If you ever get to Naples, you have to try a pizza there; it is guaranteed to be the best in the world!

Because we love pizza so much, we thought we would throw a pizza party for all of our friends, that that you guys can have a chance to taste the "real deal" and also visit us in Italy.

Please come inside, we have hired our human to work as our personal slave today (is that really so different than any other day). She is here to wait on us hand and paw, so if there is anything you need, just ask her.

We spent a lot of time making all sorts of pizzas; we have fish pizza, lizard pizza, crab pizza, pepperoni, ham and a seafood pizza. If you don't see anything you like, just ask and we can whip you up something special.

(to view the selction of pizzas, click on image)

It was a big job making all of these pizzas from scratch. Our Aunt Sassy arrived yesterday to help us get ready for the big day. Here we are in the kitchen making a fish pizza. It seems that I am doing all the work as Opus is just "supervising" and Sassy is eating more fish than she is putting on the pizza.


Over on the counter are all kinds of drinks. Please help yourself to anything you like, but you plan to drink alcohol, please be responsible. Anyone who would like to spend the night is welcome to do so, there are plenty of places to curl up for a warm nap.

The bathroom is out on the back terrace, just make your way through the small plastic door and you will find the liter box waiting on the other side. If you are a cat who is afraid of pet doors, just ask I will make the human open it for you.

We request that you don't smoke in the house, but you have need please step out onto the front terrace. It is also a great place to go cool down and get some fresh air after dancing.


And speaking of dancing, the living room is set up as a disco. Our male human is hard at work as the party DJ, if you have any requests just ask him.

Out side we have a game of bocce ball set up and ready to go. Bocce ball is a very popular game in Italy where you throw balls across the lawn without going pass certain line. The closest ball without crossing the line wins, but it can be hard as other players can knock your ball away with theirs. This might be a hard game as we cats like to chase the balls. I do ask the dogs not to grab the balls and run as it ruins the game.

Later this afternoon we will be taking a trip to the city of Pisa where we will play a game "Tip the Tower". Are you strong enough to push it over?


This eveing, in the family room, there will be a viewing of the BEST ITALIAN FILM EVER; "La Vita é Bella" (Life is Beautiful). Click the video below for preview.

The party will going on all day and into the night. You are welcome to stay as long as you like. Please feel free to bring guests, this is a celebration of our life in Italy and EVERYONE is welcome.

We hope you have a wonderful time and look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.

-Roscoe (and Opus too)

Ciao America!

Three years ago today our lives changed forever. It was on this day that we said good bye to our family and left for Italy. It was hard to leave, but we knew that where our human went, we had to follow.

Saying goodbye to our family at the airport; us with our human, her brother and parents (her sister-in-law was there too and took the photo). This was taken before we were stuffed into our cages.

She stuffed us into two, separate cages (in compliance with airline rules) and then had to check us in with rest of her bags. Because we are such big, strong, manly cats we were over the "in cabin weight limit". Our human worried about the entire flight, but what she didn't know was that we had better seats than she did!

We spotted a beautiful flight attendant and put on our best sad faces. She felt so bad for us that she sweet talked the pilot into letting us ride in the cabin; not just any cabin, the FIRST CLASS cabin. Roscoe and I ate caviar and drank champagne the entire flight. Soon I got tired and slept while Roscoe entertained himself on the foot rest.

Nothing but the best for us! Our poor human was stuck back in coach!

It was so very hard to leave our family and friends behind in America, but coming to Italy is the best (and most interesting) thing that has ever happened to us. We now have a pure bred Italian male to help care for us and our female has never been happier. And happy humans equals happy cats.

We still miss America, but have come to feel right at home in Italy!

On our way to our new home!

**Don't forget to stop by our pizza party tomorrow to celebrate our movaversary**

All Souls Day

"As long we we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on-in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here".

-Morris S. Schwartz:
Tuesdays With Morrie

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Today it is another religous holiday in Italy, All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead. Though this holiday isn't well known in America, it is a huge holiday in predominantly Catholic countries.

It is a day set a side to remember and pray for loved ones who have gone before us. In Mexico, families gather at the graveside of dead relatives to sing, play music, drink, picnic and even pray. In Italy, the day is marked by a visit to the cemetery where flowers and candles are placed on the tombs of loved ones gone from this world.

Since it is a day to remember the dead, we wanted to share with you our special memories of a beloved friend who left this world several years ago. Till still makes us sad when we think of her, but we are thankful for many memories we have and the time we shared together. This is her story.

When our human was growing up, she never had pet larger than a hamster; and aren't those just snacks anyway? The simple reason was that her father was very allergic; cats and dogs were out of the question. But our human just adored animals and pined away for a pet of her own to love and care for. At last when she was twelve years old, her best friend got a dog and that is what got the ball rolling. That dog was a Lhasa apso and her parents were told that this breed of dog was perfect for people with allergies because there was no shedding and not much dander.

After a lot of begging and pleading, her parents decided to give it a try. At last after all of those years, she would have a dog of her own to love.

They adopted a cute, little, sandy brown Lhasa apso and named her Little Miss Muffett. The entire family fell head over heels for the tiny creature and it wasn't long before Muffy (her nickname) came to rule the house.

Our human spent many wonderful years with Muffett. She spent a lot time teaching the dog an entire list of tricks, and she was always impressed with how quick Muffet was able to pick them up. She really was a smart dog.

Of course the day came when our human grew older and it was time for her to go out on her home. Muffett stayed behind, left to keep our human's parents company.

Enter Opus and I.

Opus and I were Christmas gifts to our human. She lived alone and we came to keep her company. It was a perfect match right from the start. Little did we know that there was already a pet in our human's heart; even worse, it was a dog.

Not long after Opus and I came to live with our human, she took us for a ride. We drove a short ten minutes before arriving at our "Grandparent's house". Imagine our surprise when we went inside and saw this big-bag-of-fur-of-a-dog waiting to greet us. She growled, we hissed and everyone was off on the wrong the foot, er paw. The funniest part of our encounter was that this 15 pound dog was afraid of a couple of kittens! Oh sure, she would growl at us, but only when we walked away!

We never really fought with Muffett on our visits, but we never really got along either. The humans were always careful to keep one ear open, just in case things turned ugly. Then something happened that changed the way we felt about each other......

In the kitchen, way up high on the counter top, was a Tupperware bowl full of doggie treats. Of course Muffett couldn't reach them, but we could. Opus and I jumped up on the counter and knocked the Tupperware bowl on to the floor. Then Muffet used her smarts and strength to open the Tupperware. The three of us were chowing down on dog treats when the humans walked in and caught us.

From that day forward, we were friends forever. We played together, ate together and even curled to sleep together. We are not ashamed to say that Muffett, a sweet little dog, was the bestest friend we ever had.

Muffett ended up sick as she got older. She came down with diabetes and she became to allergic to grass and flea bites! Twice a day she had to have a shot of insulin and a gulp of benadryl. Her humans were so consistent about giving her the medicine, that not only did she out live the doctor's prediction, but she lived longer than what is normal for a dog of her breed.

Sadly her life to came to end and she went to cross the rainbow bridge. It happened when our human was in Italy for the very first time. It broke her heart to come home and find out that her very first pet had passed away. Lucky that Opus and I were there to help dry her tears.


And so today we remember our dear friend Little Miss Muffett, who taught us that dogs can be just as wonderful as us cats. We love her, miss her and know that she is watching down on us.

We also want to stop and remember our dear friend Mia who suddenly passed away this week. We were shocked and saddened by the news and we are keeping her family in our thoughts and puurayers.



Thinking also of Miss Anastasia, a beautiful cat who we never had the chance to know. She still comes to visit time to time from beyond the rainbow bridge.




And Buddy, the outdoor cat who kept our Grandma company. About a month ago he was found on Granny's porch curled up and very sick. The animal rescue man seemed to think that Buddy had gotten into posion. It is our hope that he recovered from his illness, but we will never know for sure. And we don't really want to know.

To all of our friends who have crossed the rainbow bridge, we love and miss you so very much.

It is never easy to say good bye, but we hope that memories of our loved ones will carry us through the dark nights and their love will burn forever in our hearts.

All Saints Day

Did you know that Italy is the seat of the Catholic church? The Pope lives in Rome in his very own, mini-country called "The Vatican". Because of this, Italy is a very religious country with Catholicism as its number one religion.

For that reason, there are many religious holidays in Italy. Our human is off from work for the rest of the week because of two, back to back holidays. The first one is today and it is called "All Saints Day".

Since it is All Saints Day, we wanted to share with you a couple of our most beloved Saints.

Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals. He was an Italian man who was born in a town just a couple of hours south of where were live, called Assisi. Saint Francis was a hardworking man who accomplished many things in his life and worked hard to serve his fellow man, but it was his love for animals that he is best known for. They say that he would go into the woods and preach to the animals because they were, after all, God's creatures too. There is a legend that the birds loved the sound his voice and would surround him as he spoke. And they say that on his death bed he thanked his donkey for helping him throughout his life. And the donkey wept.




Our other favorite saint is Saint Gertrude of Nivelles. We don't really know too much about her other than she was a faithful servant of God, she lead a quiet and closed off life and that she died at the young age of 33 (the same age our human is now). She hated mice and worked hard to get rid of them, maybe because they were full of disease. Because of this, you will always see painting of mice at her feet or a cat nearby. We guess that is why she the Patron Saint of cats.



So furry friends, it is nice to know that even the great Saints are keeping an eye out for all of us furry creatures!

You Are Personaly Invited

Click in the image to view a larger invitation

In the summer of 2004, my brother and I started to notice some changes around our home. At first it was little things, like our human giving away some clothes, dishes and other small items from our home. As fall approached, the smaller items turned into bigger ones and we became alarmed; you KNOW how we cats hate changes. After the couch and our human's bed made their way out of our home, we were down right scared. Something was rotten in Indy and we didn't like it one bit.

It wasn't long before our home was completely empty. All that was left was our human, my brother and I, and two cat cages. We had no idea where we were going, we just knew we were leaving. Roscoe and I didn't know it, but we were about to embark on the largest journey of our lives.

That journey started with a trip to our Grandparent's home, two hours away in northern Indiana. We were guests there for three days, during which my brother and I hid under the guest bed. Then we were placed in the car for a three hour drive to Chicago before being stuffed into the belly of an airplane for eight hours! We were never so terrified in all our lives! Can you believe that we made the entire trip without eating, drinking or even going to the bathroom? Needless to say, our human was very worried about us when we were reunited at baggage claim.

At once, we noticed something was off. The signs we spotted were written with strange letters and the humans spoke with words we had never even heard of.

"Welcome to Italy," our human said. And that was when we realized that we weren't in Kansas anymore (figuratively speaking of course). From the airport in Milan, it was an addtional two and half hours in the car before we finally arrived at our new home.

The date was November 4, 2004.

We can't believe that it has already been three years since we said good bye to America. They have been wonderful years filled with new friends, great food, amazing adventures, tons of love and endless laughter. In celebration of our "move-a-versary, we are having a month long party on our blog. We will write about life in Italy, share our favorite recipes, go on a few adventures, host a contest, and tell you a little about our favorite Italian cities.

Kicking off the celebration will be an pizza party at our blog on Sunday, the anniversary of our landing in Italy. We hope that you can join us and will have fun learning all about our new homeland.

-Opus