Former Italian motorway boss sentenced over Genoa bridge tragedy

The former head of Italy's motorway operator has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in the Genoa bridge collapse that killed 43 people.

A stretch of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa collapsed on 14 August 2018 during a torrential rainstorm, sending cars and trucks crashing into the dry riverbed below.

Giovanni Castellucci, the former head of Autostrade per l'Italia, was among 57 people on trial over the collapse of the Morandi bridge.

Thirty-two people were convicted, while 25 were either acquitted or cleared because of the statute of limitations.

Presiding judge Paolo Lepri read out the verdict in a courtroom packed with 400 relatives of the victims, lawyers, journalists and members of the public.

"We need to better understand the ruling; there are a large number of defendants involved," said Egle Possetti, a spokesperson for the victims, who lost her sister, brother-in-law and her sister's two children in the tragedy.

Castellucci, who also served as CEO of Atlantia, the controlling shareholder in Autostrade at the time, was convicted
of complicity ‌in multiple counts of manslaughter through negligence.

Castellucci is already in prison, serving a six-year sentence over another fatal incident in 2013 on a viaduct in southern
Italy, and was not in court to hear the verdict.

"This is a defeat for the truth of what happened," his lawyer Giovanni Paolo Accinni said.

"It is part of a trend that has already led to Castellucci being sent to prison. The criminalisation of the chief executive
cannot be the solution. We will continue to fight for his innocence."

In Italy, the first instance ruling can be appealed at least twice.

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Prosecutors argue that years of inadequate maintenance, ignored warning signs and delayed safety work contributed to the collapse.

They allege that vital work was postponed while profits continued to be generated and distributed.

Defence lawyers reject that theory as they argue the disaster was caused by an original design defect in the bridge's stay cable number nine, the one that failed.

They argue no maintenance programme could have prevented the tragedy.

(c) Sky News 2026: Former Italian motorway boss sentenced over Genoa bridge tragedy