Rolf Buddle's story reads like a movie script, as an ordinary moment during a football match turned into an adventure that lasted 11 years. The event began on August 24, 2004, when he traveled from Switzerland to Milan to follow his favorite team, FC Basel, in a Champions League qualifying match against Inter. Shortly before the end of the match, the 59-year-old left the stands to go to the toilet at the San Siro Stadium. But he got disoriented in the corridors of the stadium, went out at the wrong exit and was unable to find the return bus.

Without a phone and with only a little money in his pocket, he made an unusual decision: to stay in Milan. For the next 11 years, he lived as a homeless person in the Baggio neighborhood, where he became known to the locals as “Rudy.” According to testimonies, the local community took care of him and he himself later said that he had enjoyed that life, far from the pressures he had previously experienced in an institution in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, in his homeland, Swiss authorities declared him dead in 2011 after a search failed. The truth came to light in October 2015, when “Rudy” broke his leg and was taken to a hospital in Italy. During the identification, authorities discovered that he was the person who had been missing for years, causing consternation in both Italy and Switzerland.

The Swiss authorities then organised his return to his homeland, where he returned to the community of Dietisberg, now in his 70s. Buddle himself admitted that “ten years were enough” and that, although he had spent a special period in Italy, he now appreciates the safety and care he finds in his country.