ODAY, SANREMO is the Atlantic City of Italy, a popular beach and gam- bling resort in the northwestern prov- ince of Imperia, nestled between the Mari- time Alps and the Riviera di Ponente, the sandy coastal fringe where the boot of Italy is kissed by the Ligurian Sea. The Sanremo in which Mario Bava’s story begins (not “San Remo,” as it is listed in most English sources) was quite a different place. In the late 19th century, Imperia was known as Liguria, and the Italian Riviera did not yet exist as such. It was not until the year that Bava’s father was born—1886—that Sanremo enjoyed its first surge of popularity, thanks to a prolonged visit by King Friedrich II of
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Germany. At the time, Sanremo was a small, picturesque hamlet marked by tightly clus- tered 13th century houses and steep, nar- row, labyrinthine streets of dirt and cobble- stone. In daylight, one could appreciate the rich fecundity of the land, whose mountain- ous shelter from the winter winds ensured the early flourishing of flowers and vegetables; but at night, one could see something in its huddled architecture that evoked the more interior worlds of folklore and superstition. Sometimes at night, a mist would sweep in from the sea and roll low in the streets till morning. Photographs from the period very much recall the village of Karmingen in Bava’s Operazione paura/Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966).
