Eight years on, Genoa's verdict names negligence—but Italy's bridges remain

On Thursday, an Italian court sentenced Giovanni Castellucci, former chief executive of Autostrade, to twelve years in prison for his role in the 2018 collapse of Genoa's Morandi Bridge, which killed 43 people. Thirty-two defendants were convicted in total; twenty-five others were acquitted or cleared. The verdict, reported across the international press, marks the formal closure of a case that has haunted Italy's reputation as a modern European state. Yet as France 24 noted this week, the trial highlights something far larger than one company's negligence: the condition of Italy's ageing infrastructure.

The Morandi Bridge was not an anomaly. It was a symptom. Italy's motorway network, much of it built in the 1960s and 1970s, has been left to decay under a model of private operation and cost-cutting that prioritised profit over maintenance. The bridge was known to be deteriorating; inspections had flagged serious structural problems. Autostrade, which operated the toll road, chose not to act with sufficient urgency. The court found that Castellucci and others made decisions that put shareholder returns above public safety. This is not a story about one corrupt executive. It is a story about a system that allowed corners to be cut on infrastructure that millions of Italians depend upon every day.

The international press has framed this verdict as a moment of accountability. Yet accountability without remedy is incomplete. Eight years have passed since the bridge fell. How many other structures of similar age and condition remain in service across Italy's roads, railways, and public buildings? The conviction tells us who was responsible for one catastrophe. It does not tell us whether the conditions that made that catastrophe possible have been remedied. Until Italy's government commits to a systematic overhaul of ageing infrastructure—with the funding and oversight to match—the Genoa verdict remains a reckoning without resolution.