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Piazza San Carlo tragedy

The wave of panic on 3 June 2017 in Piazza San Carlo, during the Juventus–Real Madrid final screened on a big screen: almost 1,600 injured and two deaths.

Image from the publication of Il Post
From the publication of Il Post, 4 June 2017

The Piazza San Carlo tragedy is the wave of panic that, on the evening of 3 June 2017, swept through the crowd gathered in Piazza San Carlo, in Turin, to watch the Champions League final between Juventus and Real Madrid on a big screen. The stampede and the crush caused almost 1,600 injuries and, in the following months, the deaths of two women.[1][2] According to the judges, the panic was triggered by a gang of robbers who sprayed irritant gas into the crowd;[3] the trials over the safety of the evening led to the final conviction of the then mayor Chiara Appendino.

The evening of 3 June

The screen was set up at the far end of the square, on the side facing Porta Nuova station, and thousands of fans filled the city's baroque drawing room.[1] Shortly after Real Madrid's third goal, around 10:30 p.m., part of the crowd near the screen suddenly began to run; someone shouted "bomb", but there was no explosion.[4] The stampede spread across the whole square: people fell, were trampled, were cut on the shards of the many glass bottles left on the ground. In the side streets, café tables were overturned, some shop windows were smashed, and the railings protecting the passages to the underground car park gave way.[1][4] Late that night, people returned to the square to search through the debris for lost belongings and clothes.[4]

The prefecture counted 1,527 injured, mostly with bruises and cuts, and three people admitted in critical condition;[1] at the robbers' trial, the number of injured counted was 1,672.[3] In the first hours, explanations followed one another: a collapsed railing, a firecracker, fear of an attack. Police chief Angelo Sanna said it "could have been a firecracker, perhaps set off recklessly", and the prosecutor's office opened a file for causing a false alarm.[1]

The two victims

Erika Pioletti, 38, from Domodossola, crushed in the crowd, died a few days later, on 15 June 2017.[5][6] Marisa Amato, 65, knocked down and trampled by the crowd, was left quadriplegic: she died on 25 January 2019 at Turin's CTO hospital, where she had been in intensive care.[7]

The spray gang

On 13 April 2018 the Turin prosecutor's office launched an operation to arrest eight people believed to be part of a gang that used irritant spray as a weapon for robbery.[8] On 17 May 2019, in a fast-track trial, preliminary hearing judge Maria Francesca Abenavoli convicted four young men between twenty and twenty-two years old at first instance, with sentences ranging from ten years and three months to ten years and four months, for unintentional manslaughter, injury, robbery and theft: according to the prosecution, they had acted "by spraying irritant gas into the crowd for the purpose of robbery".[3] The defence announced an appeal, arguing that the robbery had not been the origin of the tragedy.[9] On 17 July 2020 the court of appeal confirmed the convictions,[10] and on 21 January 2022 the Court of Cassation rejected the four men's appeals, making the sentences final.[11]

The trial over safety

The prosecutor's office also investigated how the screening had been organised. In November 2017, the mayor, police chief Sanna, former chief of staff Paolo Giordana and several city officials received notice that they were under investigation; Appendino announced that she would offer "as always, the fullest cooperation to investigators".[12] The charges were disaster, manslaughter and causing injury through negligence, over shortcomings in the event's safety measures.[13]

A few days after the evening, in a letter to the city published by La Stampa, the mayor had apologised on behalf of the administration and promised that safety would be "an even stronger priority":[14]

"I think of the looks on the faces of the dozens of injured people I met in our city's hospitals."

Chiara Appendino, letter to the city, June 2017

The rulings

On 27 January 2021, in a fast-track trial, Appendino was convicted at first instance and sentenced to one year and six months; also convicted alongside her were Sanna, Giordana, Maurizio Montagnese, who ran the agency that managed the event, and the designer Enrico Bertoletti; the mayor summed up the prosecution's case by writing that, according to the judges, "I should have foreseen what then happened",[15] adding: "If I had had the elements needed to foresee what would happen, I would have done so. But that was not the case, and unfortunately the rest is history".[15] In a separate, ordinary trial, on 3 March 2022 the court of assizes convicted at first instance Michele Mollo (two years) and Alberto Bonzano (one year and four months), police officials, and Marco Sgarbi (one year and two months) of the municipal police; six defendants, including deputy prefect Roberto Dosio, were acquitted. The court awarded Marisa Amato's family a provisional payment of 1.1 million euros.[2]

On 27 June 2023 the court of appeal confirmed the eighteen months with a suspended sentence for Appendino, Giordana and Montagnese, and acquitted Sanna "for not having committed the act";[13] it also confirmed the convictions of Bonzano and Sgarbi and acquitted Mollo.[16] On 17 June 2024 the fourth criminal section of the Court of Cassation, after around eight hours of deliberation, made Appendino's criminal liability irrevocable and ordered a new appeal to recalculate her sentence as well as those of Giordana and Montagnese; it instead definitively acquitted Bonzano "for not having committed the act"[17][18] and rejected Sgarbi's appeal, making his conviction final.[19] The former mayor reacted by complaining that, of all the institutions involved in safety, only the City had been held responsible:[20]

"The City and its mayors cannot keep being the scapegoat for everything, from public safety to smog."

Chiara Appendino, 17 June 2024

On 20 January 2025 the court of appeal, in the new trial, set Appendino's and Giordana's sentence at one year, five months and twenty-three days, taking into account complaints meanwhile withdrawn by some of the injured, and acquitted Montagnese.[21] In January 2026 the Court of Cassation rejected both men's appeals against this sentence: the conviction for disaster, manslaughter and multiple injuries, all through negligence, thus became final.[22][23]

Remembrance

On 14 May 2019 the street-naming commission of the City of Turin approved a plaque in Piazza San Carlo in memory of Erika Pioletti and Marisa Amato.[6] The judicial affair left two distinct strands: that of the robbers, convicted of having caused the panic, and that of those who were supposed to make the square safe, tried for negligence.[3][18] In the recent history of Turin's mayors, the evening of 3 June accompanied the Appendino administration throughout its term and beyond, up to the final ruling of 2026.[22]

Pages linking here

Related articles: Chiara Appendino, Piazza San Carlo

Sources

  1. Il Post — 4 June 2017
  2. Il Post — 4 March 2022
  3. ANSA — 17 May 2019
  4. Il Post — 3 June 2017
  5. Il Post — 17 May 2019
  6. ANSA — 14 May 2019
  7. ANSA — 25 January 2019
  8. Il Post — 13 April 2018
  9. Il Messaggero — 17 May 2019
  10. ANSA — 17 July 2020
  11. ANSA — 21 January 2022
  12. Il Post — 6 November 2017
  13. Il Post — 27 June 2023
  14. Il Post — 10 June 2017
  15. Il Post — 27 January 2021
  16. Sky TG24 — 27 June 2023
  17. AGI — 17 June 2024
  18. Il Post — 17 June 2024
  19. ANSA — 17 June 2024
  20. Il Fatto Quotidiano — 17 June 2024
  21. Il Post — 20 January 2025
  22. Il Sole 24 Ore — 20 January 2026
  23. Civico20 News — 23 January 2026

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