An Italian court in Genoa has sentenced Giovanni Castellucci, the former chief executive of motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia, to 12 years in prison for his role in the 2018 collapse of the Morandi Bridge, which killed 43 people. The verdict, delivered on 16 July 2026 after a four-year trial, saw 32 of the 57 defendants convicted on charges including multiple manslaughter and criminal negligence, while 25 were acquitted or saw lesser charges expire under the statute of limitations. Castellucci, already serving a six-year sentence for a separate fatal road accident, was not in court.

Italian prosecutors had argued that years of deferred maintenance, ignored structural warnings and a corporate culture that prioritised dividends over safety led to the failure of the bridge’s stay cable number nine during a summer storm. They pointed to evidence that vital reinforcement work on the pylon that collapsed had been repeatedly postponed. Defence lawyers, however, maintained that the disaster was caused by an undetectable design defect — corrosion of steel tendons encased in concrete — and that no maintenance programme could have prevented the collapse. Castellucci’s legal team said the court had erroneously equated hierarchical position with criminal liability and announced an appeal.

The ruling marks the first judicial determination of individual criminal responsibility for one of Italy’s worst infrastructure failures, and it resonated across a country still grappling with the legacy of privatised motorway management. The current chief executive of Autostrade, now under state control, issued a public apology on the eve of the verdict, a gesture that victims’ families described as belated. The deputy transport minister, Edoardo Rixi, called the verdict an “important step on the path of truth and justice”, while the mayor of Genoa, Silvia Salis, described the day as one of “immense historical and emotional weight”. For the families, the sentences were met with a mixture of relief and caution, with the committee representing victims stressing the need to study the full reasoning before declaring justice served.

The Morandi Bridge, part of the A10 motorway linking Genoa to the French border, collapsed on 14 August 2018, sending dozens of vehicles onto railway tracks and warehouses below. The disaster triggered a political crisis that led to the renationalisation of Autostrade, with the Benetton family’s Atlantia holding ceding control to the state in 2021. Autostrade and its engineering subsidiary Spea had already paid €29 million in financial penalties and €63 million in civil compensation to victims’ families. Under Italian law, the first-instance ruling can be appealed twice, and the court must publish its detailed reasoning within six months. Both the prosecution and defence are expected to challenge aspects of the verdict, meaning a final resolution remains years away.