The story of a cat that visits his late owner’s grave daily has made the headlines in Italy.
The ‘Corriere Fiorentino’ reports that a three-year-old, grey and white tomcat, Toldo, takes presents to the graveside of his former owner, Renzo Iozzelli, in Montagnana, Tuscany (Pistoia). The cat visits the grave with what Renzo’s widow, Ada, has told the press are presents, including plastic cups, twigs, paper handkerchiefs, leaves and toothpicks. Toldo leaves his gifts on Renzo’s tombstone.
Renzo died on 22 September, 2011, aged 71. Renzo was very close to Toldo, who he had saved from a colony of feral cats when Toldo was just a three-month-old kitten. Such is Toldo’s loyalty to Renzo – and his grief – that the cat followed Renzo’s funeral procession to the cemetery.
Ada said that Toldo showed he missed his beloved master immediately. She told the ‘Corriere Fiorentino’ that the day after the funeral she went to the cemetery with her daughter and found a sprig of acacia on her husband’s tomb. Ada said: “Straightaway I thought that it was the cat, but my daughter was convinced that I said so because of the emotional state I was in then.
“And that’s not all. In the evening, my son-in-law went to the cemetery and found Toldo right there standing ‘guard’ over his master.”
Locals have become used to seeing Toldo prowling around the cemetery where Renzo is laid to rest and the cat has been spotted sitting on Renzo’s tombstone. The heartwarming true story shows that a cat can be man’s best friend just as much as dog.
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