Verdict Expected Thursday in Trial of 57 Defendants Over 2018 Genoa Bridge Collapse

A court in Genoa is scheduled to issue a first-instance verdict on Thursday in the trial over the 2018 collapse of the Morandi bridge, The BBC reported. The structure gave way during a summer storm on 14 August 2018, sending vehicles including the car carrying Claudia Possetti, 47, her husband Andrea, and their children aged 12 and 16 onto railway tracks below.

All four died along with 39 others in the disaster on a key route linking Genoa to the French border.

Fifty-seven defendants, including former executives of Autostrade per l'Italia and its parent Atlantia, engineers from Spea, and former transport ministry officials, have faced charges of multiple manslaughter and falsifying documents since the trial opened in July 2022.

All deny wrongdoing. Prosecutors allege maintenance was repeatedly delayed despite warning signs while profits continued, while defence lawyers maintain the collapse resulted from a design flaw in a concrete-encased cable that no maintenance could have prevented.

The proceedings have included 284 hearings over almost four years, with some lesser charges such as document forgery already lapsed under Italy's statute of limitations. Francesco Pinto, former deputy chief prosecutor, described the length of the case as symptomatic of deeper problems in Italy's justice system and estimated that appeals and a Supreme Court ruling could add another two and a half years.

Giovanni Paolo Accinni, defending former Atlantia chief executive Giovanni Castellucci, attributed part of the duration to repeated pre-trial technical investigations.