Relatives of the 43 people killed in Genoa’s Morandi Bridge disaster expressed their dismay after a former executive at the motorways company responsible for the viaduct admitted to knowing it was at risk of collapse years before the incident and did nothing about it.
Gianni Mion made the confession while being questioned as a witness in the trial of 59 people over the 2018 tragedy at the court of Genoa. He told the court he had been aware of the danger associated with the bridge since 2010, when the issue was discussed during a meeting of officials at Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI), the company that manages Italy’s toll motorways, and SPEA, its maintenance unit.
“It emerged that the bridge had an original design defect and that there was the risk of collapse,” Mion said. “I asked if someone could certify its safety and Riccardo Mollo replied: ‘We self-certify it’.”
Mollo is among the defendants on trial. “I did nothing, and it is my greatest regret,” Mion said.
Those on trial include former chiefs and technical staff of ASPI and SPEA, as well as current and former transport ministry officials and civil servants.
SPEA and ASPI, which in 2022 was bought by the Italian state lender CDP from Atlantia, the infrastructure group led by the fashion brand Benetton, are not part of the criminal trial after reaching a plea bargain that involved paying €30m in damages.
The Morandi Bridge, part of a major arterial route connecting east and west Genoa, collapsed during a storm on 14 August 2018, sending the victims plummeting to their deaths in one of the worst tragedies in modern Italian history.
The bridge had been plagued with structural issues since its construction in the late 1960s, leading to expensive maintenance.
Mion said he had a feeling that “nobody was controlling anything”.
Egle Possetti, who leads a committee for the relatives of the victims, said Mion’s remarks were striking but that other witness statements emerging from the trial were pointing in the same direction.
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“Others said they knew of the risks and did nothing or that they made warnings about the danger and nothing happened,” she added. “The defence can therefore no longer say the bridge had ‘a hidden defect’ that the defendants couldn’t have known about – a line they keep pushing. How could they not have been aware of the risk if it was known since 2010? We no longer want to hear this farce.”
The remains of the Morandi Bridge were demolished, and a new bridge, designed by the architect Renzo Piano, was inaugurated in 2020. Flowers continue to be left beneath the bridge on the 14th of each month in tribute to the victims.