In August 2018, a motorway viaduct in Genoa collapsed in the rain, taking 43 lives with it and opening a wound that courts have only now begun to close. Eight years on, a Genoese tribunal has convicted 32 people — including former Autostrade per l'Italia chief Giovanni Castellucci, sentenced to 12 years — for the negligence that prosecutors say allowed the aging Morandi bridge to deteriorate until it could no longer hold. The verdict arrives not as a final answer but as a first reckoning, one that families of the dead have waited nearly a decade to receive, and one that appeals will continue t
Italian motorway chief sentenced to 12 years for Genoa bridge collapse that killed 43
43 people died when the Morandi bridge collapsed in August 2018, with victims' families waiting nearly eight years for judicial accountability and convictions.
A first step that opens up a ray of light
Mark
Why did it take eight years just to get to a verdict?
Mimi
The investigation alone took four years. Then the trial itself—280 hearings across another four years. With 57 defendants, multiple companies involved, complex engineering questions about what failed and why, it became a massive undertaking. The court had to examine decades of maintenance records, design specifications, warning signs that may or may not have been heeded.
Mark
The prosecution asked for 400 years total. They got 32 convictions but much lighter sentences. What happened?
Mimi
The judge clearly didn't accept the full weight of the prosecution's argument. Castellucci got 12 years instead of something far longer. Berti got five and a half instead of twelve and a half. The defense's argument about design flaws—the cable encased in concrete—seems to have resonated enough to pull the sentences down.
Mark
But the families seem satisfied. How is that possible if the sentences are lighter than requested?
Mimi
They're not satisfied in the sense of feeling justice is complete. Possetti called it "acceptable" and a "ray of light"—those are careful words. What matters to them is that someone was finally held accountable after eight years of waiting. The verdict itself, the acknowledgment that people failed in their duties, may matter more than the exact length of the sentence.
Mark
Castellucci wasn't even in court to hear the verdict.
Mimi
No. And his lawyer immediately said they'd appeal. He's already serving six years for a different disaster in 2013. For him and his legal team, this is just another round in a longer fight. The appeals could stretch this out for years more.
Mark
The new bridge was built in two years. Why couldn't the old one be maintained?
Mimi
That's the question at the heart of the trial. The old bridge was 50 years old, designed in 1967. Maintaining aging infrastructure costs money and requires constant vigilance. The prosecution says Autostrade delayed maintenance repeatedly. The defense says the design itself was flawed from the start. Either way, 43 people died in a rainstorm because something gave way.
Der Puls
- Forty-three people died in seconds when the Morandi viaduct gave way on a summer afternoon, and for nearly eight years their families lived inside that unresolved grief while courts slowly assembled the case.
- The trial stretched across more than 280 sessions and consumed four years of investigation before a single verdict was read, a delay that itself became a source of anguish for those seeking accountability.
- Prosecutors and defense fought over the fundamental question of guilt — was the collapse the product of ignored warnings and deferred maintenance, or an inherent flaw baked into the bridge's original design?
- Thirty-two defendants were ultimately convicted, with sentences ranging from under two years to twelve, while 25 others were acquitted or shielded by the statute of limitations — a mixed outcome that left families cautiously relieved but not fully satisfied.
- Castellucci's lawyer immediately announced an appeal, calling the verdict profoundly flawed, signaling that the legal battle will continue to wind through Italian courts for years to come.
In August 2018, a motorway viaduct in Genoa collapsed in the rain, taking 43 lives with it and opening a wound that courts have only now begun to close. Eight years on, a Genoese tribunal has convicted 32 people — including former Autostrade per l'Italia chief Giovanni Castellucci, sentenced to 12 years — for the negligence that prosecutors say allowed the aging Morandi bridge to deteriorate until it could no longer hold. The verdict arrives not as a final answer but as a first reckoning, one that families of the dead have waited nearly a decade to receive, and one that appeals will continue to contest for years ahead. Genoa has already built a new bridge; the human accounting is still under construction.
On a rain-soaked August afternoon in 2018, the Morandi bridge that carried traffic through Genoa gave way without warning. Forty-three people died as vehicles plummeted to the ground below. Eight years later, a court in Genoa delivered its verdict: Giovanni Castellucci, former chief executive of Autostrade per l'Italia, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in the disaster.
Castellucci was one of 57 defendants tried in connection with the collapse. In the end, 32 were found guilty. Senior motorway official Michele Donferri Mitelli received 11 years; former number two Paolo Berti received five and a half. Engineers and transport ministry officials also faced conviction, with sentences ranging from under two years to five. Twenty-five defendants were acquitted or cleared on statute of limitations grounds.
The trial consumed nearly eight years — four of investigation, four of hearings across more than 280 sessions. That weight was felt most acutely by the families of the dead. Egle Possetti, who lost her sister and her sister's entire family in the collapse, called Castellucci's sentence 'acceptable' and described the verdict as a first step that 'opens up a ray of light.' Others expressed satisfaction tempered by the long wait and the certainty that appeals would extend the process further still.
At the heart of the trial was a fundamental dispute: prosecutors argued that maintenance of the deteriorating structure had been repeatedly postponed and warning signs ignored; the defense countered that a design flaw — a cable encased in concrete in a way that made it vulnerable — was the true culprit. Castellucci was absent when the verdicts were read. His lawyer immediately called the outcome 'profoundly flawed' and pledged to appeal.
Genoa has moved forward physically. The ruins of the old bridge were demolished in early 2019, and the new San Giorgio bridge — designed by Renzo Piano, the city's own architect — was inaugurated just two years after the disaster, its sail-like pillars echoing the city's maritime identity. The human reckoning has been slower. On the eve of the verdict, Autostrade's current chief offered the company's first public apology, but for Cesare, who was ten years old when his father was killed, the words rang hollow. Genoa's mayor called Thursday a day of 'immense historical and emotional weight' — a moment the state owed to the families. The appeals ahead will keep the case alive in courts and in memory for years to come.
On a rain-soaked August afternoon in 2018, the Morandi bridge that carried traffic through Genoa simply gave way. Forty-three people died when the motorway viaduct collapsed during the height of summer travel season, sending cars and trucks plummeting to the ground below. Eight years later, on Thursday, a court in Genoa finally delivered its verdict: Giovanni Castellucci, the former chief executive of Autostrade per l'Italia—the company that operated the aging structure—was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Castellucci was one of 57 defendants tried in connection with the disaster. The prosecution had sought a far harsher sentence, asking for 400 years in total jail time across all defendants on charges including manslaughter and systematic failure to maintain the viaduct, which had been designed by engineer Riccardo Morandi in 1967. In the end, 32 people were found guilty. Michele Donferri Mitelli, another senior motorway official, received 11 years. Paolo Berti, the former number two at the operator, got five and a half years—seven years less than prosecutors had requested. Engineers from the maintenance firm Spea and officials from the transport ministry also faced conviction, with sentences ranging from just under two years to five years. Another 25 defendants were either acquitted or cleared because their alleged offenses fell outside the statute of limitations.
The trial itself had consumed nearly eight years—four years of investigation followed by another four years of hearings spread across more than 280 court sessions. The delay weighed heavily on the families of the dead. Egle Possetti, whose sister and her family were all killed in the collapse, called the 12-year sentence for Castellucci "acceptable," describing the verdict as a first step that "opens up a ray of light." Emmanuel Diaz, whose brother Henry died, told Italian television he was "very satisfied" with the outcome. But satisfaction was tempered by the long wait and the knowledge that appeals would likely extend the legal process for years to come.
The core dispute at trial centered on how the bridge came to fail. Prosecutors argued that maintenance of the deteriorating structure had been repeatedly postponed and that warning signs of structural problems were systematically ignored. The defense countered that the real culprit was a design flaw inherent to the bridge itself—specifically, a cable that had been encased in concrete in a way that made it vulnerable. Castellucci was not present in court when Judge Paolo Lepri read the verdicts. His lawyer immediately signaled that the defense would appeal, calling the verdict "profoundly flawed" and vowing to continue fighting for his acquittal. Castellucci is already serving a six-year sentence for a separate road disaster in 2013.
In the years since the collapse, Genoa has moved forward physically. The remains of the old bridge were demolished in early 2019. A new viaduct, the San Giorgio bridge, was inaugurated just two years after the disaster—a remarkably swift reconstruction. Designed by Renzo Piano, the Genoa-born architect, the new structure features distinctive sail-like pillars that echo the city's maritime heritage. Yet the human reckoning has been slower. On the eve of the trial, Arrigo Giana, the current head of Autostrade per l'Italia, offered the company's first public apology, saying that "the actions and decisions of some people left indelible scars" and pledging that the company had changed under new management. For Cesare, an 18-year-old whose father Andrea Cerulli was among the 43 killed, the apology rang hollow. "Unfortunately, these people lack tact and humanity," he told La Repubblica newspaper. Cesare was only 10 when his father died.
Genoa's mayor, Silvia Salis, who attended Thursday's hearing, called it a day of "immense historical and emotional weight." She framed the verdicts as a moment the state owed to the families—a reckoning that had been deferred since that "cursed 14 August 2018." But the judicial process is far from finished. Appeals will stretch ahead, likely for years, keeping the case alive in courts and in the memory of a city that lost 43 of its own to what prosecutors say was negligence, what the defense claims was fate, and what the families know was an irreplaceable loss.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
The actions and decisions of some people left indelible scars— Arrigo Giana, current head of Autostrade per l'Italia, in public apology
Unfortunately, these people lack tact and humanity— Cesare, 18, whose father Andrea Cerulli died in the collapse, on the company's apology
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Crime & Justice