Giovanni Castellucci receives 12-year sentence in trial concerning the 2018 collapse of Genoa's Morandi bridge.

A court in Genoa, Italy, sentenced former motorway operator executive Giovanni Castellucci to 12 years in prison for his role in the 2018 collapse of the Morandi bridge. The disaster, which killed 43 people, exposed profound failures in maintaining critical Italian infrastructure. The 57 defendants faced charges including negligent disaster and multiple counts of manslaughter, stemming from alleged failures to keep the structure safe. Prosecutors argued that years of maintenance neglect directly led to the crumbling of the major highway. Defense lawyers, however, attributed the collapse to unavoidable original construction defects. During the multi-year trial, sources noted that while some defendants denied wrongdoing, the focus remained on corporate accountability. The conviction of Giovanni Castellucci, who is already serving jail time for a separate incident, highlights the judicial determination to assign responsibility for the decay of the aging structure. The collapse spurred an official apology from the current motorway operator chief, showing institutional acknowledgment of failures in adherence to necessary maintenance protocols.

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