“At the exit of the tunnel after Malnate (for trains on their way to Varese) to the left of the single-track line, there is still a gatehouse with bricked-up doors and windows – his guard house (that of the guard known as “Nanni del Gaggione”): P.B. (Posto di Blocco or block post) Gaggione, guard house 24 (identified as such in the 1936 Service Schedule), now P.B.A. (Posto di Blocco Automatico or automatic block post).
The guard house ceased functioning around 1954, when the automatic block post replaced the manual (semiautomatic) one that Nanni and his wife had worked for so many years, methodically turning and jerking the red levers on the “Cardani Servettaz” apparatuses and firmly pushing the buttons.
But what was unusual about this case was the fact that the guard house, located on a slope halfway up the hill in a stand of locust trees, was inaccessible, without even a footpath.... and so there was a special schedule for certain trains which stopped to pick up Nanni’s children (two or three of them) and take them to school; his wife, on her occasional shopping trips to Varese, as well as for the block post guard who replaced Nanni when he was on leave, on holiday, or ill.
All on his own out there, Nanni had one hobby: bee-keeping. His honey was said to be excellent, with all the locust trees in those woods...
He lived in this unusual isolation for many years, and was said to be a very happy man!”
From the book “Cento anni di storia delle Ferrovie Nord Milano” (A century of Ferrovie Nord Milano)