Perche, I am glad you put in your reference to the 70s (although you also include an event in the early 80s) in your post as it allowed me to say that you can get mugged in Italy without disagreeing with the point of your thread. I was mugged in Italy in 1981 in the Milan train station. Of course, there was an element of stupidity in my own actions. Rather than staying in the populated area of the station, I took a little-used staircase as a short-cut back to my hotel. Bad idea.

I was also in Bologna in 1981 when the train station was bombed. For all of that, I really never felt unsafe living there at the time, quite the opposite. I felt safer there than I did in major U.S. cities.

Personally, I never found Milan bland, just commercial/industrial and depressing. While I would go there if someone was footing the bill, I can think of many other cities in Italy I would rather spend time in, even ones which would never be anywhere near the top of a tourist's go-to list.