An Italian court has sentenced former Atlantia chief executive Giovanni Castellucci to 12 years in prison over the 2018 collapse of the Morandi motorway bridge in Genoa, one of Italy’s deadliest infrastructure disasters in recent history.
The ruling was delivered on Thursday following a lengthy criminal trial examining responsibility for the bridge failure that claimed the lives of 43 people.
At the time of the disaster, Atlantia was the majority shareholder of motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia, which managed the bridge.
Family members of those killed attended the hearing as the court announced its verdict, marking another major development in a case that has come to symbolize both the search for accountability and the lengthy nature of complex criminal proceedings in Italy.
Under Italy’s judicial system, the conviction is not final and can still be challenged through multiple levels of appeal.
Castellucci was not present in court. He is already serving a separate six-year prison sentence linked to another fatal motorway incident that occurred in southern Italy in 2013.
The Genoa trial involved 57 defendants, including former company executives, engineers and officials from Italy’s transport ministry. Prosecutors brought charges ranging from multiple counts of manslaughter to criminal negligence.
The Morandi Bridge collapsed on August 14, 2018, during a severe summer storm. A section approximately 50 metres above the ground gave way while vehicles were crossing, sending dozens of cars and trucks crashing onto warehouses and a riverbed below.
Authorities estimated that as many as 35 vehicles were on the affected section of the bridge when it failed.
The tragedy shocked Italy and sparked widespread concern about the condition of the country’s ageing transport infrastructure. It also led to years of investigations into inspection procedures, maintenance practices and corporate oversight.
The collapse triggered a political dispute between Atlantia, then controlled by the Benetton family, and the Italian government. The conflict ultimately resulted in Atlantia selling its controlling stake in Autostrade per l’Italia.
Ahead of Thursday’s verdict, Autostrade per l’Italia Chief Executive Arrigo Giana issued a public apology to the victims’ families, the people of Genoa and the wider Italian public, acknowledging the suffering caused by the disaster while pledging to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that years of inadequate maintenance, ignored structural warnings and repeated delays to essential repair work contributed directly to the bridge’s collapse. They alleged that necessary safety interventions were postponed while the company continued generating profits.
Lawyers representing the defendants rejected those claims. They argued that the collapse resulted from an inherent design flaw involving one of the bridge’s stay cables and maintained that routine maintenance would not have prevented the failure.
The case remains subject to Italy’s appeals process, meaning the convictions and sentences may still be reviewed by higher courts before becoming legally final.
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