Brandizzo rail disaster
The Brandizzo rail disaster is the accident that occurred on the night of 30 August 2023 in the municipality of Brandizzo, in the province of Turin, in which five workers carrying out maintenance on the railway line were struck and killed by a train. The victims were Kevin Laganà, 22, Michael Zanera, 34, Giuseppe Sorvillo, 43, Giuseppe Aversa, 49, and Giuseppe Saverio Lombardo, 52. Two other workers present at the site, Antonio Massa and Andrea Girardin Gibin, survived.
The criminal proceedings on the case are handled by the Ivrea public prosecutor's office, with deputy prosecutors Valentina Bossi and Giulia Nicodemi investigating under the lead of chief prosecutor Gabriella Viglione. The prosecution requested that the companies Rfi, Sigifer and Clf and a further nineteen individuals be committed for trial, including Rfi's then chief executive Vera Fiorani and her successor at the head of the company, Gianpiero Strisciuglio, who later became chief executive of Trenitalia. During the investigation, the most serious charge initially considered, voluntary manslaughter with possible intent (dolo eventuale), was replaced with the charges of multiple manslaughter and culpable railway disaster.
The preliminary hearing of the trial opened on 30 September 2026 at the Palace of Justice in Ivrea, more than three years after the events. The hearing, held across two courtrooms linked by videoconference owing to lack of space, collected requests to join the proceedings as civil plaintiffs from around ten organisations and forty individuals, including relatives of the victims, trade unions (among them Filca Cisl Piemonte Orientale, Fillea Cgil, Filt Cgil, Feneal Uil and Uil nazionale), the association Sicurezza e Lavoro, the Municipality of Brandizzo, the Piedmont Region and Inail; the decision on admissions was postponed to a further hearing, set for 28 October 2026. Rfi began compensation negotiations with the victims' families in the months following the disaster: according to statements made at the hearing, around two-thirds of the workers' twenty-four closest relatives have already received compensation and do not intend to join the criminal proceedings as civil plaintiffs.
On the third anniversary of the disaster, on 24 September 2026, the initiative "Il lavoro chiede giustizia" ("Work demands justice") was held in Piazza Carlo Tempia in Brandizzo, promoted by Cgil Piemonte, Cgil Torino, Filt Cgil and Fillea Cgil under the patronage of the Municipality of Brandizzo. Speakers included, among others, the general secretary of Cgil Piemonte Giorgio Airaudo, the mayor of Brandizzo Monica Durante, Lidia Orastella, mother of victim Giuseppe Aversa, and the general secretaries of Filt Cgil and Fillea Cgil Piemonte, Giuseppe Santomauro and Massimo Cogliandro. Airaudo stressed that "the Ivrea court has done extraordinary work", but reiterated that "justice cannot be the end point" and that attention remains high on safety in railway network contracts and subcontracts.
Related articles: Cgil Piemonte, Preliminary hearing for the Brandizzo railway disaster (September 2026), «Work Demands Justice» Initiative by Cgil Piemonte for the Third Anniversary of the Brandizzo Massacre (September 2026)
Sources
- ANSA Piemonte — 18 September 2026
- TorinoOggi — 22 September 2026
- TorinoToday — 30 September 2026
- TorinoToday — 30 September 2026
- TorinoToday — 1 October 2026