The city of gold, the great champion, the most beautiful villa on the Altavilla Vicentina hill immersed in the greenery of a large park among oaks, beeches, hazelnuts and English lawn. And also the football match in progress, which brought together Roberto Baggio and his family in front of the TV thus making them more vulnerable. For a gang of robbers, an El Dorado. Also because, he himself explained to the Vicenza carabinieri with his head plastered, bad luck also got involved: the video surveillance system internal and external had been put out of use by the rains floods of recent weeks.
While the alarms, installed outside and inside the property, were not activated due to the comings and goings in the house before the kick-off of the Italy-Spain match. That patch is due to the fact that one of the criminals wanted to immediately set the record straight by hitting Baggio on the head with the butt of the gun. «I reacted instinctively because I saw my family in danger and I wanted to defend it”, he explained to the military who are investigating the matter.
There were his two sons, Mattia and Leonardo, his wife Andreina and his mother-in-law. They were moments of terror. «When he hit me I felt helpless… Luckily on a physical level I only suffered a few stitches and a few bruises, in addition to the great fear and fright of what happened. But it’s something that needs to be overcome. I still have a lot of anger left.”
Roby Baggio the Golden Ball, the Divine Pigtail, the beloved number 10 of Juve Milan Inter and the national team, the artist on the pitch and the very reserved man off it who embodies a bit of the modesty typical of this land. Indulgent interviews, very little TV and a private retreat in a rustic and very modern farmhouse at the same time, this and that, a bit like his nature, Buddhist and hunter.
The villa only recently made its appearance on social media and magazines, which some believe may have attracted the gang’s attention. Exposed bricks, a window overlooking an estate of around ten hectares. «She took them a little at a time and so it became a more difficult farm to control. The robbers could have climbed everywhere – says the former mayor of Altavilla, Carlo Dalla Pozza, who lives on this hill – Among other things, my cousin reported to me the suspicious movements of a group of people who were looking inside the properties”.
The prosecutor’s office naturally opened a case for armed robbery and injuries. “There are also aspects of kidnapping,” added the Vicenza prosecutor, Lino Giorgio Bruno, who also brought the ROS carabinieri into play. They are hunting a group of Slavs who have proven to be familiar with the place. But villa robberies are nothing new in these parts.
Vicenza is the third province nationally in terms of per capita income and the first in terms of number of safety systems. AND province of small entrepreneurs, of a wealth that suddenly grew in the 1980s and 1990s which brought gangs of Eastern European criminals to the Berici hills. Baggio is a special case. The shed wasn’t built but the villa was. AND he is not the first footballer to suffer a robbery: Donnarumma, Smalling, Zaccagni, Barak, Toloi, Zalewski… The list is long and the loot is similar, watches, jewels, money. The former champion would also have had the trophies, above all the Golden Ball which however he keeps in a special safe which apparently has not been broken into.
«These events leave enormous wounds but I am sure that Roberto and his family will overcome the trauma», are the words of Vittorio Petrone, the champion’s historic manager. Who, keeping faith with his confidentiality, limited himself to spreading a short quote: «We are receiving extraordinary love and we would like to thank everyone». Forty minutes of terror, locked in a room while the raiders acted. Practically the entire second half of Italy-Spain. In this respect, at least this, they haven’t missed much.
