Overview
- A Genoa court on Thursday, July 16, 2026, sentenced former Autostrade per l’Italia CEO Giovanni Castellucci to 12 years in prison and handed prison terms to 31 other managers and officials for their roles in the August 14, 2018, collapse that killed 43 people.
- Prosecutors’ expert reports found pillar 9 failed after internal steel cables corroded, and the court accepted the prosecution’s central claim that long‑term maintenance neglect and cost cutting, not an original construction defect, caused the collapse.
- Key ASPI figures convicted include Michele Donferri, 11 years, and Paolo Berti, five and a half years, while former regulator Mauro Coletta received five years for oversight failures.
- Autostrade and engineering firm Spea avoided criminal charges by agreeing to roughly €30 million in settlements and most victims accepted compensation that under Italian law limited their role in the criminal case, leaving only one victims’ committee as a private accuser.
- The verdicts close a nearly four‑year trial with about 284 hearings and 57 defendants but will be followed by appeals; families say the sentences offer partial closure even as questions remain about corporate responsibility and future oversight of Italy’s infrastructure.