Italian gives Autostrade CEO 12 years for bridge collapse

An Italian court on Thursday, July 16, 2026, sentenced Giovanni Castellucci, the former chief executive of highway operator Autostrade per l’Italia, to 12 years in prison for his role in the 2018 collapse of Genoa’s Morandi bridge, a disaster that killed 43 people. Castellucci was the highest-ranking of 30 people convicted in the case, which concluded a four-year trial involving 57 total defendants.

The verdicts were delivered by presiding judge Paolo Lepri in a Genoa courtroom packed with hundreds of relatives of the victims. Castellucci, who is already serving a separate six-year sentence for a 2013 road incident, was not present. Other notable sentences included 11 years for former Autostrade maintenance head Michele Donferri Mitelli and five and a half years for Antonino Galatà, former CEO of the engineering firm SPEA. In total, 30 defendants were convicted, with sentences ranging from one year and 11 months to 12 years. The remaining defendants were either acquitted or had charges dismissed due to the statute of limitations.

The collapse occurred on August 14, 2018, when a roughly 200-meter section of the bridge gave way during a storm, sending dozens of vehicles plummeting...