Italy: new bomb threat emails force school evacuations a day after 6,000-school alert

Fresh threats on Thursday

Italian schools were thrown into alarm again on Thursday, 12 November, when a new wave of bomb threat emails reached institutions across the country. The messages started arriving shortly before 11:30 in the morning and were sent to schools in Sicily, Piedmont, Liguria, Molise, Veneto and Umbria. Some school managements ordered their buildings evacuated, while police checked each report separately.

The day before

The alert followed a wave on Wednesday, 11 November, when threats were sent to more than 6,000 public schools, almost the entire national network. Reports differ on how many buildings were emptied that day. Kathimerini cited at least 300 schools evacuated after receiving the same threat, while Naftemporiki described the evacuation of more than 6,000 educational institutions. The reports do not reconcile these figures, so the number of buildings actually emptied on Wednesday remains unclear.

Who sent the messages

The emails were signed with the name Michail Antropov and claimed that the sender had placed explosive devices, which the messages described in detail. The same messages demanded that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni resign. Naftemporiki reported that the Thursday emails came from an account that belonged to a Filipino natural sciences teacher and had been hacked, while the Wednesday messages came from the account of a Taiwanese university student, which was also hacked. Kathimerini added that the Filipino teacher worked at the Philippine education ministry.

Locations and the prime minister's seat

Kathimerini, citing Repubblica, reported that one of the targeted schools was in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, while others were in Catania, Trieste and Salerno. Naftemporiki, citing La Stampa, said a threat was also sent to Palazzo Chigi, the official prime ministerial seat. That threat was described as a hoax.

Authorities' response

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the episode reflected a clear attempt by bad actors to spread insecurity, fuel alarm and pressure institutions. A government source told Kathimerini, later on the same day, that checks by Italian authorities had found no evidence supporting the credibility of the threats to schools across the country. ANSA, as cited by SKAI, said the Thursday messages resembled those sent on Wednesday and turned out to be a hoax.

What is still unclear

SKAI reported that no further details had been made public about the origin of the messages, and that it was not known whether any suspicious object had been found. The sources do not give a final count of schools evacuated on Thursday, and police are checking each complaint individually. The sender's signature and the hacked accounts are the only identifying details the reports provide.