The eighth anniversary of the Morandi Bridge tragedy, the Genoese highway viaduct that collapsed on August 14, 2018, with 43 victims, is commemorated with a different awareness compared to previous years. Because only a month ago, on July 16, the first-instance sentence from the Genoa Court arrived for those considered responsible for that disaster which, according to prosecutors and judges, could have been prevented. The total sentences, for 32 defendants, amount to just under 180 years, and the former CEO of Autostrade per l’Italia, Giovanni Castellucci, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the crimes of negligent collapse and vehicular manslaughter. Among the others convicted are representatives of Aspi – Autostrade per l’Italia – a company controlled at the time of the collapse by Atlantia (the holding company 30% owned by the Benetton family through Edizione spa) – Spea (which handled network maintenance) and the Ministry of Infrastructure.
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The outcome of the trial, whose motivations will be filed in January due to the complexity of the proceedings, while not able to relieve the still-living pain of the relatives of those who passed away, has nonetheless gathered the satisfaction of the Morandi Bridge Victims Memorial Committee, expressed by its president, Egle Possetti, who emphasized, above all, that “responsibilities have been identified” and that “the aggravating circumstance of vehicular manslaughter held,” so any statutes of limitations “will have a longer term.”
The works to compensate the city
But the entire city of Genoa was affected by the 2018 tragedy, as well as, primarily, the families of the victims. For this reason, a compensation agreement was signed with Autostrade in 2021, reconfirmed with all Ligurian authorities, Municipality, Region, and Ministry, in 2024. The agreement provides that Aspi prepares a series of compensations linked to various compensatory works, for a total value of over 1.68 billion. To date, however, works worth 1.13 billion are still to be carried out, although the resources have already been made available by Aspi. Of the total sum (1.68 billion), over 583 million were used for the construction of the San Giorgio viaduct; 100 million to be allocated to mobility, logistics, and digital projects in the Genoa area (the Municipality of Genoa has not yet decided how to use them); 75 million for the reorganization of port traffic (almost all already spent by the Port Authority); and 930 million for two tunnels: the sub-port tunnel of Genoa (700 million) and the Val Fontanabuona tunnel (230 million). For the first, whose budget meanwhile has risen to 1.1 billion (the part not included in the compensation will be paid by Aspi with revenues from tolls on the entire national highway network), lot A (value 210-220 million) has already started; lot B (value 803 million but works have yet to begin) was awarded, with the tender concluded at the end of July, to Webuild. Instead, for the Val Fontanabuona tunnel (which will start from the A12 between Rapallo and Zoagli, to reach Fontanabuona with 5.6 kilometers of underground ramp and two tunnels, one 2 kilometers and the other 2.5), the Service Conference concluded in April and the final project is underway, expected by December. While the start of works could be in January. The sum of money still to be used, therefore, amounts, as mentioned, to about 1.13 billion.
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Highlights of the story
On August 14, 2018, at 11:36, a violent downpour hits Genoa. It was at that time that a stay cable of the Polcevera viaduct, an A10 infrastructure designed by engineer Riccardo Morandi and built in 1967, broke causing the collapse of the span of pile 9 of the bridge and instantly cutting short 43 lives. In September 2018, the Genoa prosecutor’s office registered the first 20 people in the register of suspects, including then CEO Castellucci; but also ministry officials, as well as the top management and technicians of Spea.
On June 28, 2019, a controlled explosion at 9:37 brought down the remaining sections of the viaduct. On August 3, 2020, the new San Giorgio viaduct, designed by architect Renzo Piano, was inaugurated.
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