Italian motorway boss is jailed for 12 years and dozens more officials are convicted over 2018 Genoa bridge collapse disaster that left 43 dead
An Italian court on Thursday convicted 32 defendants, including the former chairman of motorway operator Autostrade, for their roles in a deadly bridge disaster that killed 43 people eight years ago.
Giovanni Castellucci, former chief executive of Autostrade, was found guilty of vehicular homicide and negligence in connection with the bridge collapse in Genoa, one of the country’s worst infrastructure disasters.
The crowded courtroom was filled with relatives of those killed when the Morandi Bridge, part of a major highway connecting France and Italy, collapsed in torrential rain on August 14, 2018.
Castellucci, accused of postponing major maintenance work, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The former manager is serving a sentence for his responsibility in the accident in 2013, in which a bus crashed into the viaduct barriers and killed 40 people.
“Today we can say that there are those guilty of the murder of our relatives,” said Michele Matti Altadonna, whose brother was one of the victims.
‘We are here for our loved ones, in their memory,’ he said.
The legal teams of some of the defendants, including Castellucci, said they would appeal the decision.
Rescuers search for the crumbled trunk of the collapsed Morandi highway bridge in Genoa, seen on August 15, 2018
A large section of the Morandi viaduct, through which the A10 motorway passes, collapsed in Genoa, Italy, 14 August 2018
However, Altadonna said, ‘We will not give up for the four children my brother left behind, we will not give up until the Supreme Court.’
Under Italian law, judges will be required to publish the reasons for their decisions within six months.
The findings of the investigation were devastating: ‘Between its opening in 1967 and its collapse, 51 years later, not even minimal maintenance work was carried out to strengthen the supports of pillar nine.’
Work was also carried out on the other two columns, the 10th and 11th columns, and it was planned for the ninth column, which collapsed in the morning traffic.
Victims’ lawyer Raffaele Caruso said the Morandi bridge did not collapse ‘by chance’.
‘As we have always said, and above all as the prosecutor’s office said, this collapse could have been prevented.’
Most of the defendants included managers and technicians from Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI), which operates almost half of the country’s motorway network, and Spea, the engineering company responsible for maintenance.
Among them, in addition to Castellucci, were Spea’s former president, Antonino Galata, as well as officials from the infrastructure ministry.
Relatives of the Morandi Bridge victims reacted after the first instance decision given at the hearing in Genoa, Italy, regarding the collapse of the bridge, 16 July 2026
Rescuers work to save an injured person after a highway bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, August 14, 2018
Rescuers rescue an injured person after a highway bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, August 14, 2018
Michele Mitelli, ASPI’s manager in charge of maintenance, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while the group’s number two, Paolo Berti, was sentenced to five years and six months.
Edoardo Rixi, Italy’s deputy transport minister, wrote that Thursday’s decision was “an important step towards truth and justice.”
‘The collapse was not a stroke of fate, but the result of serious mistakes and negligence by those charged with providing security. It is true that accountability has finally been established,” Rixi wrote on social media.
The defense’s main claim was that there was a latent construction defect in the bridge, namely corrosion of the cables, and that this, not lack of maintenance, was what caused the bridge to collapse.
Castellucci’s lawyers wrote in a memorandum following the ruling that the court erroneously relied on a theory that “equates responsibility with hierarchical position” and noted that the former CEO took “any action deemed necessary for the security of the infrastructure.”
‘Today, it is considered appropriate to impose personal criminal liability on the CEO of a company that has done nothing but rely on the best engineering experts in its field,’ they wrote.
Autostrade and Spea reached an out-of-court settlement with the prosecutor’s office, which stipulated a payment of 29 million euros ($30 million) to the state.
At the time of the tragedy, Autostrade was owned by the Atlantia group, controlled by the wealthy Benetton family, but, faced with public outrage, the family later transferred its shares to the state.
