A court in Genoa today is delivering its verdict in one of Europe’s largest infrastructure criminal trials, concluding four years of proceedings and 284 hearings into the August 14, 2018 collapse of the Morandi Bridge, which killed 43 people when pillar nine gave way during a summer storm, sending dozens of vehicles plunging from the A10 motorway.
The 57 defendants include executives and technicians from highway operator Autostrade per l’Italia and maintenance firm Spea, charged with manslaughter, endangering transport safety and falsifying official documents. Prosecutors are seeking combined sentences exceeding 400 years, with the most serious individual sentence requested at 18 and a half years for former Autostrade general manager Giovanni Castellucci, accused of deliberately postponing reinforcement work on the collapsed pillar.
Investigators found that virtually no maintenance was performed on the pillar’s stays over 51 years since the bridge opened in 1967. The defence counters that a hidden original construction defect rather than negligence caused the collapse.
Egle Possetti, whose sister, nephew, niece and brother-in-law all died in the disaster, told AFP the most important thing was that the truth finally comes out. Autostrade CEO Arrigo Giana issued a public apology on Wednesday, acknowledging the company’s responsibility while noting no gesture could erase the pain of the families.
Autostrade and Spea exited criminal proceedings in 2022 after paying a financial settlement. Appeals are expected regardless of today’s verdict.
