This acceptance of very high-profile monuments that become home to numerous cats is not so uncommon. The Castle Sforza in Milano maintains its own cat habitat there and I've even seen a book and a calendar there in the Museum on the cats of Sforza.
The Cat Santuary is supported by a group of people who accept donations and sell trinkets there at the Torre Argentina site.
A note of interest regarding the area known as "Argentina" is that the name is not a reference to the country Argentina; but is derived instead from an association with Johannes Burckardt and his Strasbourg homeland. Of further note regarding names is that Burckardt's mansion in the Argentina area of Rome is now home to the "Burcardo" Library and Museum (on my "off the beaten path" Rome tips).


