One year after the collapse of the Genoa bridge, which left 43 dead on August 14, 2018, Italy is recovering. But the planned ceremony will be disrupted by the political crisis triggered by Matteo Salvini, leader of the League (far right), which broke the ruling coalition and demanded early elections last week.

The main protagonists of the unprecedented crisis in mid-August will be in Genoa: President Sergio Mattarella, who alone has the power to dissolve Parliament and call elections, Interior Minister Salvini, who has been calling for them since August 8 and his former government ally Luigi Di Maio, leader of the 5-star Movement (M5S, antisystem), as well as the head of government Giuseppe Conte and several ministers.

A new "boat-like" bridge

The ceremony is to be held almost below the site where the bridge collapsed, a few dozen meters from where a pile of the new bridge begins to appear, which should be completed next spring, officials said. The commemorations include a mass to be celebrated by the Archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, speeches by the mayor, the head of government and representatives of the families of the victims, a minute of silence and the city will ring the bells of churches Genoa will join the sirens of the port.

The new bridge will be built by a group of several Italian companies from a project by Renzo Piano, the famous Italian architect born in Genoa. Author among others of the Pompidou Center and the new courthouse in Paris, the latter proposed a drawing of bridge that will have "something of a boat, because it is something of Genoa", and "it will be a bridge finer, which will have a brightness to him ", in his own words.

"I hope that this government crisis will not lead to slowdowns in the realization of this important infrastructure," Federico Romeo, mayor of the district where the drama took place, told AFP.

Judicial battle

While waiting for a new bridge essential to a rapid crossing of this metropolis of more than 580 000 inhabitants, the legal battle around the one that collapsed is in full swing.

On the one hand, the main defendant, the company Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI), manager of this road viaduct and property of the Benetton family; on the other hand, the families of the victims and many politicians, mainly from the M5S, who regard the collapse as a consequence of bad maintenance and accuse ASPI of privileging its profits to the detriment of security.

"The Morandi Bridge", named after the architect who designed it in the 1960s, "collapsed because it was no longer able to stand up", recently summarized the prosecutor of Genoa Francesco Cozzi.

The lawsuit or trials are announced as a titanic enterprise, with 71 people surveyed, including leaders of Benetton Group companies and officials of various administrations, more than 100 lawyers, 120 judicial experts, 75 witnesses and tons documents and physical evidence.

The bridge case is one of the issues that has poisoned the League-M5S relationship. The latter urgently wanted to remove the concessions that ASPI enjoyed, even if they then curbed the risk, in case of breach of contracts, of expensive compensation claims, while the League, close to the industrial circles of the North, has always remained cautious.

With AFP