Or perhaps first ever serial murderer? Since he acted even before the most famous and well-known one, Jack the Ripper. Whether he is the most famous or not, one thing is certain. Milan was the city where Italy’s first serial killer lived and acted. He used to hide and act in Via Bagnera, still considered the scariest street in the city, as well as the narrowest.
Perhaps among you there is someone who already knows who we are talking about. But if, on the other hand, you do not know, read on. It is still part of the history of Milan that needs to be known. First, however, we need to make one thing clear. He was not really Milanese. Italy’s first serial killer was born in Urio, on Lake Como. He comes to Milan for work where he then lives and kills his victims.
Who is Italy’s first serial killer
You may wonder why we tell you such grim things about Milan’s first serial killer? Well because it is not like every city to “boast,” pass the term, of having had the first serial murder in history. It may not be the greatest thing to narrate or to be proud of. But it is history, history of a city that continues to surprise and give curious anecdotes like this one.
In short, the man in question was born in Urio on Lake Como back in 1799. As it appears from the judgment of the Milan court that charged him with the murders, the murderer presented himself as a man “Of calm manners, with an exterior almost of good-naturedness, an exact observer of religious practices, foreign, at least apparently, from vicious tendencies.” A face of an angel. A benevolent man, always ready to help. Instead, he was a heinous criminal.
In short, who are we talking about, you may wonder impatiently. Now we reveal it to you, we are talking about Antonio Boggia. He is the serial murderer, first ever. At least it seems so since he started killing around 1849. Jack the Ripper around 1888 and Vincenzo Verzeni, another famous Italian serial killer from Bergamo, committed his crimes around 1867. Boggia, according to history, appears to have started first.
“The Monster of Milan”
One of Boggia’s nicknames or “the monster of the Stretta” in reference to Via Bagnera, where he hid and brought his victims. But let’s continue: he was born on Lake Como and soon moved to Milan to work as a fochista at Palazzo Cusani, headquarters of the Austrian military command.
Unsuspected, he was admired by his neighbors for his goodness, his kindness. A man like any other man, probate. Instead. The first suspicions began when John Murier reported the disappearance of his mother Ester Maria Perrocchio, owner of the property in Stretta Bagnera where Boggia resided. After some complaints from neighbors who saw Boggia moving around at night with sacks and masonry equipment, police broke into his basement where they found confirmation of the murders. Here, in fact, walled up were the bodies of Antonio Boggia’s victims, including that of Perrocchio.
In addition, the carabinieri also found powers of attorney with which Boggia had all the assets of the people he then murdered in his name. Four crimes and one attempted murder were charged against him, and for this he was sentenced to death in 1862. It was the last death sentence of a civilian carried out in Milan until World War II.
Did you know him?