Via Bagnera

In front of you opens one of the narrowest passages in central Milan. It used to be called Stretta Bagnera, and the name may come from old baths, though that is only a theory. Today it is a quiet shortcut. In the mid-19th century, however, its name became tied for ever to a crime.

1The monster of Stretta Bagnera

Antonio Boggia was born in 1799 on the shores of Lake Como and lived very close by, on Via Nerino. He passed for a respectable man, almost a gentleman. Between 1849 and 1859 he lured several people to a storeroom in this alley on the pretext of work or business, killed them and took their money and property. Four victims are proven.

2How he was caught

It all began with a complaint: the son of one victim, 76-year-old Ester Maria Perrocchio, could not find his mother, and Boggia was waving papers that named him manager of her property. Judge Crivelli was not convinced, kept pulling at the thread and discovered that the powers of attorney were forged. Boggia was arrested on 26 February 1860. The bodies turned up in a cellar.

He tried to feign madness to the very end, but the court did not believe him.

He was hanged on 8 April 1862. It was the last execution of a civilian in Milan before the Second World War. His skull ended up in the hands of the criminologist Cesare Lombroso.

3What to look for

• The width of the alley: stretch out your arms and you can almost touch both walls.
• The bend in the lane, which hides it from the street.
• The low doorways of old storerooms and cellars.