For 100 years, Casa Rosa in Rome has been the final resting place for about 1,000 pets, from dogs and cats to hens, pigeons and even a lioness named Greta. The pet cemetery, the oldest in Italy, was created in 1922 after the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini asked the veterinary for his Great Danes, Antonio Molon, to find a place where to bury the beloved hen that had been his children's playmate.
Word spread and soon the cemetery on the southern outskirts of Rome, started receiving requests for burials, both from ordinary people and from VIPs. Casa Rosa, now run by Molon’s son, Luigi, hosts the pets of the Savoy royal dynasty, film director Federico Fellini, actresses Anna Magnani and Brigitte Bardot, former Italian president Sandro Pertini, among others.
