Posted by Milan ghost tour
Milan is a city famous for its artistic and architectural beauty, but perhaps few people know that it also hides a mysterious side. With this Milan ghost tour I want to show you the macabre corners of a mysterious Milan.
The vampire of Milan station
Let’s start this tour of mysterious Milan with a vampire. A vampire in Milan, you say? Exactly: legend has it that one roams the city’s Central Station.
The legend dates back to when the station still had tunnels where homeless people sometimes sought shelter. It was said that those tunnels were inhabited by a vampire with bloodshot eyes, whose favourite victims were the homeless. The tunnels are gone now, but the vampire apparently still wanders the station at night.
The basilica of Sant’Eustorgio and the statue of Saint Peter Martyr
In Piazza Sant’Eustorgio stands the basilica of the same name, facing Corso di Porta Ticinese. This church and this square are famous for many reasons. First of all, tradition holds that the relics of the Three Kings were buried in this very basilica, brought there by Saint Eustorgius.
The story goes that the saint was carrying the relics of the Magi from Constantinople to the Basilica of Santa Tecla. But once he reached this square, the cart became heavy and the horses refused to go on. The saint therefore decided to have a new church built and to keep the remains of the Magi there. In 1164, however, the relics were carried off by Frederick Barbarossa’s troops and moved to Cologne Cathedral, where they still are today; only part of them returned to Milan in 1904, and they are kept in the Chapel of the Magi.
It was in this church that the Inquisition would later settle. One of the cruellest inquisitors was Saint Peter of Verona. He was appointed inquisitor by Pope Innocent IV in 1251. Peter did his job as inquisitor very thoroughly, sending hundreds of alleged witches and sorcerers to the stake, burned in Piazza Vetra, right behind the basilica.
The inquisitor was so hated that on 6 April 1252, while travelling from Como to Milan, he was attacked in the woods near Seveso and killed with a billhook blow to the head. The man who struck him was a hired killer, Carino da Balsamo, who later repented and ended his days in a Dominican convent. Peter was proclaimed a saint just a year later, in 1253. In memory of the event there is a statue of the saint with the blade still stuck in his head.
The ghost of Porta Nuova
It is said that in the Porta Nuova area you can see the ghost of a woman in medieval dress. The ghost is said to be that of Bernardina Visconti, daughter of Bernabò Visconti and a courtesan with whom he had spent a night of passion.
Bernardina was married off by her father to a man she loathed. After the wedding, however, she found love with a courtier. Once the adultery was discovered, her father locked her in one of the two towers that held up the arch of Porta Nuova, leaving her to starve. Bernardina died of hunger after several months and, although the towers are gone today, her ghost has been seen many times in Porta Nuova.
San Bernardino alle Ossa
This is one of the most macabre stops in Milan, and certainly one of the least known. The church was built by the Disciplini friars, who practised self-flagellation. The friars were in charge of the hospital ossuary, but when the bell tower of the Church of Santo Stefano collapsed, they decided to use the bones of their fellow friars, prisoners and the hospital dead to decorate the interior.
Legend has it that inside the church the ghost of a little girl, whose skull is among the decorations, sometimes appears. On 2 November the girl is said to come to life and start a danse macabre with the other skeletons. Another story says that you can sometimes hear the screams of a monk walled up alive in the church.
Via Bagnera
Via Bagnera, also known by its old name Stretta Bagnera, is famous for the murders committed from 1849 onwards by Antonio Boggia, the Monster of Milan. He robbed and then killed his victims, burying them in his cellar, which opened right onto Via Bagnera. He was sentenced to death by hanging, and it is said that his ghost still wanders that narrow street at night.
The Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio and the devil’s column
This is perhaps one of the best-known mysterious places in Milan. The Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio is famous for the chessboards found both outside and inside it. There are 4 in all, of different sizes, and their origin is uncertain, but some think they are linked to the Templars.
To the left of the basilica stands the so-called devil’s column. It is called this because it has two holes which, according to tradition, were left by the devil. Legend says that Saint Ambrose was walking nearby when Satan appeared to him. The devil wanted to tempt him into abandoning the religious life, but the saint struck him, sending him crashing horns-first into the column. The devil stayed stuck there for some time until he managed to free himself. If you get close to the holes you can still smell sulphur, and if you put your ear to them you can hear noises coming from hell.
The cathedral dinosaur and the biscione, symbol of Milan
On the façade of Milan Cathedral, and inside it, there are hundreds and hundreds of statues. One in particular, though, astonishes those who see it. The statue in fact depicts a kind of dinosaur: a creature with webbed feet and a long neck.
This creature is probably the Tarantasio dragon, a mythological creature similar to the Loch Ness Monster that was said to live in Lake Gerundo, near Lodi. It was said that the dragon fed on children and was responsible for yellow fever. Legends say that one day it was killed and the lake was drained.
There are many versions of who killed it: Saint Christopher, Frederick Barbarossa or the founder of the Visconti family. And this last theory could explain why the biscione, a serpent swallowing a child, is the symbol of Milan. The biscione would be none other than the Tarantasio dragon, killed by a Visconti who then adopted it as his family’s coat of arms.
And so ends our Milan Ghost Tour. All that remains is to wish you a good journey… into mystery!
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