The Ponte Morandi collapsed in 2018.Image: keystone
July 16, 2026, 2:26 p.mJuly 16, 2026, 3:09 p.m
It was a catastrophe in the middle of summer, in the middle of the city, in the middle of rush hour traffic: eight years after the spectacular collapse of a motorway bridge in Genoa, northern Italy, in which 43 people died, the main defendant was sentenced to twelve years in prison.
A court in the port city found the former head of Italy’s motorway company, Giovanni Castellucci, guilty. The 66-year-old was not present at the verdict: He is already in prison because of a fatal bus accident on another highway. The court also imposed prison sentences of several years on other people responsible.
600 people lost their homes
In Genoa, on August 14, 2018, at 11:36 a.m., the Ponte Morandi bridge, which had led through the city for more than half a century, suddenly collapsed. Over a stretch of 200 meters, the road collapsed because a pillar no longer held. Cars and trucks were torn down 45 meters. Experts concluded that the cable-stayed bridge, which opened in 1967, had suffered serious damage due to poor maintenance. The trial against a total of 57 accused lasted four years.
In the disaster, not only motorists who were on the bridge died, but also several people on the ground. They were killed by falling pieces of concrete. There were also 16 injured. Around 600 residents lost their homes. Several houses had to be demolished because they were under bridge pillars that were in acute danger of collapsing. The remaining parts of the Ponte Morandi – named after the builder Riccardo Morandi – were finally blown up in a controlled manner.
Because the bridge in Genoa was the most important connection between the port, airport and center, the city with its almost 600,000 inhabitants was practically divided in half for two years. A new bridge has stood in the same place since August 2020, designed by the star architect Renzo Piano from Genoa and raised in record time. There are 43 light poles on it – one pole for each fatality.
Prosecutors describe top managers as autocrats
The public prosecutor’s office had demanded 18 years and 6 months in prison against Castellucci. She accused the former top manager of having known about deficiencies since 2009. The prosecution described him as an autocrat who ran the company like his “kingdom”. Profit was more important to him than a secure infrastructure. The defense, on the other hand, spoke of an undetectable design flaw in one of the pillars. Castellucci himself said: “I feel responsible, but not guilty.”
After the collapse, the rest of the bridge was blown up.Image: AP
Despite massive public pressure, he resigned as head of the highway company Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI) only a year after the disaster – in return for a severance payment of 13 million euros. He has since been sentenced to six years in prison for another accident on an ASPI highway. In 2013, 40 people were killed in southern Italy when a bus broke through the guardrails on a bridge.
The Benetton family’s reputation is also damaged
The collapse of the Morandi Bridge also meant that the Benetton family of entrepreneurs – known internationally for their advertising campaigns for colorful sweaters – lost control of Italy’s motorway network. The state forced the operating company to be renationalized. This also meant a serious loss of image for Benetton.
In total, more than 50 defendants were in court, including other employees of the highway company and engineers who should have been responsible for safety, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Transport. ASPI’s number three at the time was put behind bars for eleven years. Two other ex-managers each received five and a half years in prison. The allegations included negligent homicide, falsification of documents and failure to maintain.
A late apology
Shortly before the end of the trial, the current head of the operating company, Arrigo Giana, publicly apologized to the survivors. In a letter published by the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, he wrote: “Let’s break the silence.”
Like millions of others, he followed the events on television. «I kept wondering how it was possible not to immediately apologize for what happened. Another incomprehensible wound.” Relatives welcomed the apology – even if it came very late.
A spokeswoman for the relatives, Egle Possetti, welcomed the verdict against Castellucci. The court’s decision was “understandable”. She held back from further assessments. First they want to wait for all the verdicts to be read out, she said. (dab/sda/dpa)