Italy celebrates this Monday the fifth anniversary of the collapse of the Genoa bridge, a tragic event that occurred on August 14, 2018 and resulted in the loss of 43 lives. Commemorations include a ceremony at the crash site itself as well as statements from the country’s top political leaders.
“A disaster as serious as it is unacceptable,” said the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella in his message. “The passage of time does not reduce the responsibility for what happened”, he added, asking that justice establish “definitively the circumstances, the guilt, the malfunctions and the omissions” of the people and companies involved in this tragedy.
Statement by the President
The Genoa court sent 59 people to trial in April 2022. About 170 witnesses have been heard since the start of the trial, with more than 80 hearings held, but the first instance verdict is not expected before 2024.
It had also decided that the motorway company Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI), manager of this bridge, and the engineering company Spea, which both belonged at the time to the Atlantia group owned by the Benetton family, should pay the State 29 million euros as part of an amicable agreement concluded between the prosecution and these two companies.
