• Former motorway operator chief Giovanni Castellucci was sentenced to 12 years in prison over the 2018 collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, Italy, which killed 43 people.
• The collapse of the Morandi bridge was attributed to severe deterioration due to inadequate maintenance, leading to a 200-meter section of the motorway plunging around 45 meters to the ground below.
• The disaster resulted in the Benetton family losing control of Italy's highway network, with the government forcing the operating company to be renationalized, and other defendants receiving prison terms for charges including negligent homicide and failure to perform maintenance.

A court in the northern Italian city of Genoa on Thursday sentenced former motorway operator chief Giovanni Castellucci to 12 years in prison over the 2018 collapse of the Morandi bridge, which killed 43 people.

Castellucci, the former chief executive of motorway operator Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI), was found guilty for his role in the disaster, one of Italy's worst infrastructure failures in recent decades.

The 66-year-old was not present when the verdict was handed down, as he is already in prison for a fatal coach accident on another highway.

The court also sentenced other guilty parties to prison terms of several years.

The Morandi bridge collapsed suddenly on August 14, 2018, at 11:36 am, sending a 200-metre section of the motorway plunging around 45 metres to the ground below. Cars and lorries fell with the bridge, killing motorists as well as several people on the ground who were struck by falling concrete.

A total of 43 people died and 16 were injured. Around 600 residents lost their homes.

An expert investigation concluded that the bridge, which opened in 1967, had suffered severe deterioration as a result of inadequate maintenance.

The trial, which involved 57 defendants, lasted four years.

The prosecution had sought a sentence of more than 18 years for Castellucci. It accused the former top executive of having known about the defects as early as 2009. The defence, on the other hand, argued that there was an undetectable structural defect in one of the pillars.

Castellucci himself said at one point: "I feel responsible, but not guilty."

The collapse of the Morandi Bridge also resulted in the Benetton family - known internationally primarily for its advertising campaigns featuring colourful sweaters - losing control of Italy's highway network.

The government forced the operating company to be renationalized.

The other defendants included other employees of the highway company and engineers who were supposed to be responsible for safety, as well as representatives of the Transport Ministry.

The former number three at ASPI was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Two other former managers each received five-and-a-half-year prison terms.

The charges included, among others, negligent homicide, document forgery, and failure to perform maintenance.

Despite massive public pressure, Castellucci did not step down as head of ASPI until a year after the disaster, in exchange for a severance package worth €13 million ($14.9 million).

He was since sentenced to six years in prison for another accident on an ASPI highway in southern Italy in 2013. In that incident, 40 people were killed when a bus crashed through the guardrails on a bridge.

The current head of the operating company, Arrigo Giana, publicly apologized to the bereaved families shortly before the trial ended.

In a letter published by the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, he wrote: "Let's break the silence."

A spokeswoman for the victims' families, Egle Possetti, welcomed the verdict against Castellucci. She said the court's decision was "understandable," but said she would reserve further comment until all the verdicts had been read out.

After the disaster, the remaining sections of the Morandi bridge, named after its designer Riccardo Morandi, were later demolished in a controlled explosion.