Astigiano
The Astigiano is the geographic area of Piedmont that includes the city of Asti and the surrounding municipalities, among them Moncalvo, Nizza Monferrato, Castell'Alfero and Tonco. The area was affected on 11 November 2026 by a large wave of false bomb threats that hit hundreds of schools across Italy.
The bomb threat of 11 November 2026
On the morning of Wednesday 11 November 2026 a series of anonymous emails containing threats of attacks reached numerous Italian schools, causing precautionary evacuations in several provinces of Piedmont, including Turin, the Canavese, the Novarese, the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, the Astigiano and the Monregalese [1]. According to initial reports, the messages were sent around 9:50am to about a hundred schools across the country, from an email address traced to a foreign domain [1].
In the Astigiano the precautionary evacuations affected middle and upper secondary schools in Moncalvo, Nizza Monferrato, Castell'Alfero and Tonco, as well as several schools in the city of Asti [2]. In Moncalvo the city administration ordered the evacuation of the school building following the report, activating the planned safety procedures; the school bus service was maintained, while the after-school programme was temporarily suspended [2].
The threatening message, signed by a self-styled «Mikhail Andropov» presenting himself as leader of the «Vilayat of Misoginistan», claimed the presence of a remotely detonated explosive device inside the buildings and contained death threats, as well as a reference to an alleged attack on the Prime Minister's car [1]. Checks by police forces and the Postal Police, launched to trace the origin of the messages, found no real devices [1][3].
Institutional reactions
Piedmont Region president Alberto Cirio said he was personally monitoring, together with the prefects of Piedmont and the regional education authority, how the situation was developing across the region [1]. Regional councillor for Education Daniela Cameroni called the episode «of unprecedented gravity», describing it as a «criminal act that must be prosecuted with the utmost firmness» and thanking the police forces involved in the checks [2].
Previous incidents in Piedmont
Piedmont had already been affected by a similar episode on 2 November 2026, when an email containing a bomb threat reached the Trino comprehensive school, in the Vercellese area: on that occasion the school's management arranged for middle-school students to leave early, and Carabinieri intervened with a dog unit, finding no devices [1].
Timeline
- — A new wave of anonymous emails with false bomb threats hits hundreds of schools across Italy during the morning and causes precautionary evacuations at several schools in Piedmont, including Turin, the Canavese, the Novarese, the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, the Astigiano and the Monregalese. → Quotidiano Piemontese NovaraToday
Sources
- Allarme bomba nelle scuole, nuova ondata di email minatorie in Italia: segnalazioni anche a Torino — Quotidiano Piemontese, 11 November 2026
- Allarmi bomba in centinaia di scuole in Italia: anche nell’Astigiano — ATnews, 11 November 2026
- Ondata di allarmi bomba anche nelle scuole del Novarese e del Vco: scattano le evacuazioni — NovaraToday, 11 November 2026