Almost two years to the day after the collapse of the Genoa bridge, which left 43 people dead in August 2018, Italy is inaugurating a new viaduct on Monday, but without the families of the victims who consider the ceremonies out of place.

The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella will be the first to officially cross the new bridge by car, a work of famous architect Renzo Piano. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, among others, will deliver a speech and the Air Force acrobatic patrol will fly over the city around 4.30 p.m. GMT, the official inauguration time.

An absence, however, will weigh heavily on the ceremony: that of the families of the victims who refuse to participate and will meet ten days later to mark the second anniversary of the tragedy.

"We will not be present at the inauguration, we do not want the tragedy to end in carnival", told AFP Egle Possetti, representative of the Committee of the relatives of the victims, who lost his sister in this tragedy, his brother-in-law and two nephews. "We could have a big party like this if the bridge had been destroyed because it was too old, a new one had been built and no one had died," he added.

In the accident, 43 victims including four children

On August 14, 2018, in the pouring rain, the Morandi motorway bridge, named after the engineer who designed it, an essential axis for trade with France, but also for local journeys, collapsed, resulting in in its fall dozens of vehicles, on the road to vacation or work. Among the 43 victims were four children.

Since then, Italy, renowned champion of slowness in the execution of public works, has worked hard and completed the bridge in April, to the point where we speak today in the peninsula of the "model of Genoa".

Giuseppe Conte did not hesitate to call it Sunday "a symbol of an Italy which is recovering".

The bridge subjected to solidity tests

The last section of the bridge, approximately 1 km long, was laid at the end of April and since the finishing works and safety tests have followed one another to allow its final inauguration.

About ten days ago, 56 trucks weighing 44 tonnes each, for a total of around 2,500 tonnes, tested the strength of the bridge.

The bridge is expected to be open to traffic on August 4 or 5 after clearing the platform and props erected for the official opening.

A bridge deemed poorly maintained

The collapse of this bridge gave rise to a bitter legal battle, which is still ongoing.

In the dock: many people and companies, but the finger is especially pointed at the company Autostrade per l'Italia (Aspi), manager of this road viaduct and whose main shareholder is the Benetton family through Atlantia.

Following a standoff with the government in Rome, which began the day after the fall of the bridge and with an investigation still in progress, but having highlighted serious shortcomings concerning the maintenance of the bridge, the Benetton family finally agreed two weeks ago to exit Italian highways.

The preliminary investigation should be completed in October, and the actual judicial process should however start early next year, said the representative of the Committee of the relatives of the victims.

With AFP

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