Ex ASPI CEO Castellucci gets 12 years as Morandi-bridge disaster verdicts handed down

Giovanni Castellucci, the former CEO

of the Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI) highways company, was

given a 12-year term on Thursday as the verdicts were handed

down for the 2018 Morandi-bridge-collapse disaster in Genoa in

which 43 people died.

Prosecutors had requested a term of 18 years, six months for

Castellucci, who is already in jail as he is serving a six-year

term related to a crash on the A16 highway in 2013 near to the

town of Monteforte Irpino, in the province of Avellino, in which

40 people died.

In total the Genoa court convicted 32 defendants, including the

former managers and technical officials of ASPI and its SPEA

maintenance and road safety arm, and gave sentences for a total

of almost 200 years for homicide, road homicide and culpable

collapse.

Another 25 defendants were acquitted or had the cases against

them timed out under the statute of limitations.

Former ASPI number three Michele Donferri got 11 years while the

company's ex number two, Paolo Berti, got five years, six

months, as did former SPEA CEO Antonino Galatà.

Mauro Coletta, the former transport and infrastructure ministry

manager in charge of overseeing highway concessions, was

sentenced to five years in prison.

The prosecution said that many of the defendants knew that the

motorway viaduct could collapse but did nothing to prevent this

from happening.

ASPI and SPEA themselves are no longer involved in the criminal

trial after a plea bargain to pay damages of around 30 million

euros.

On Wednesday ASPI's current CEO Arrigo Giana finally apologized

for the disaster on the company's behalf in an open letter

published in Corriere della Sera.

The remains of the Morandi bridge were demolished and another

viaduct designed by starchitect Renzo Piano opened in August

2020 took its place.

Piano, a Genoa native, created the design for the new bridge for

free as a gift to the city.

The audacious new structure has been named the Genoa San Giorgio

Bridge.

It features sail-like structures, to reflect the northwestern

port city's rich maritime heritage.

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