The torrential rain on that midsummer day four years ago was the final impetus that brought down the Morandi Bridge, officially the Polcevera Viaduct. The road collapsed, cars and trucks fell down, some on the houses below. 43 people died.
Now high-ranking managers of the autobahn operator Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI) have to answer for themselves in the Ligurian capital. The company operates almost half of the Italian motorway network. Since the collapse, ASPI has been accused of failing to properly maintain the bridge.
At the time, ASPI was controlled by the Benetton family’s publicly traded Atlantia holding company. The family has since sold its stake to the state for €8 billion, putting ASPI under state control. Former Atlantia boss Giovanni Castelluci is now in the dock.
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The bridge was part of the A10 motorway, an important link to southern France, Piedmont and Lombardy
Among the 43 fatalities were occupants of vehicles that were driving over the bridge at the time and employees of the municipal waste disposal company AMIU located below
Lots of serious allegations
Some of the other defendants are also high-ranking managers of the motorway operator, experts and higher-ranking officials at the Ministry of Transport in Rome. The allegations are of negligence, obstruction of road safety, forgery and willful omission of safety precautions.
According to Genoa prosecutors, most of the suspects expected the bridge, built in the 1960s, to collapse and still did nothing. It was about higher dividends for shareholders, so the accusation. Damage to the structure is said to have been known long before the collapse.
“They died because of a bridge that was never maintained to make more profit,” Giorgio Robbiano, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and nephew in the bridge collapse, told AFP news agency. The family was on their way to a birthday party when they crashed their car. The operators would have to be held accountable, according to Robbiano: “I want them to be responsible for their actions.”
Egle Possetti also lost three family members. Now she is spokeswoman for the relatives. “We hope that the process will move forward quickly and that the truth about the negligence in the maintenance of the bridge will finally come to light,” said Possetti. But she didn’t expect the process to be quick. “In Italy, processes are lengthy and unfortunately often don’t end well for the victims.” She felt abandoned from day one.
Partial comparison closed
The process is extensive, almost 180 witnesses are invited. A part of it has already been dealt with: In April, an investigating judge accepted the comparison offers from ASPI and its former maintenance unit SPEA. The two companies paid a total of around 30 million euros to avoid a full procedure. The public prosecutor had agreed to the settlement.
Where the viaduct collapsed, a new bridge, the Ponte San Giorgio, designed by star architect Renzo Piano, has been standing since 2020. A park is to be created nearby to commemorate the victims.