Italy's top court upholds five-year prison term for ex-rail chief over 2009 Viareggio disaster that killed 32
The Italian Court of Cassation made final the five-year sentence for former Ferrovie dello Stato and RFI CEO Mauro Moretti, closing a 17-year legal saga over the 2009 Viareggio train explosion that killed 32 people.
The 2009 disaster
A freight train carrying LPG derailed at Viareggio station on 29 June 2009, triggering a violent explosion and fire. The accident killed 32 people, injured more than 100, and devastated an entire neighbourhood. The train was operated by companies under Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI).
Legal proceedings spanning 17 years
The trial became one of the longest and most complex in recent Italian history. In 2022, the Florence Court of Appeal convicted former FS and RFI CEO Mauro Moretti and several other defendants for criminal railway disaster; Moretti received a five-year term. In January 2024 the Cassation Court confirmed criminal responsibility but ordered a new appeal limited to the quantification of penalties, because the defence argued that mitigating factors should have reduced the sentences by one-third instead of the one-ninth that was applied. In May 2025 the Florence Court of Appeal upheld all the original sentences, stating it wanted sanctions "commensurate with the exceptional gravity of the facts."
- Freight train carrying LPG derails at Viareggio station, exploding and killing 32 people.
- Florence Court of Appeal sentences Mauro Moretti to five years and convicts other defendants.
- Cassation confirms criminal responsibility but orders a new appeal only to recalculate penalties.
- Florence Court of Appeal upholds all sentences, rejecting defence requests to increase mitigating factors.
- Fourth Criminal Section of Cassation rejects all appeals; convictions become final; Moretti to serve prison time.
Final Cassation ruling
On 25 June 2026, the Fourth Criminal Section of the Supreme Court rejected all appeals and made the convictions definitive. Moretti, now 72, must go to prison. His lawyer, Ambra Giovene, said she was "indignant at this sentence because profoundly unjust." She maintained that Moretti is innocent and indicated she would request house arrest.
It is unjust for the people who are overwhelmed by this outcome, for some of whom it means opening the prison doors for a culpable offence, which certainly is a very serious fact: there were 32 deaths and hundreds of injured. A crime for which engineer Moretti is not guilty. I am not saying this as his lawyer, but the papers.
Other defendants
Besides Moretti, the court confirmed penalties for 10 other defendants, among them former RFI CEO Michele Mario Elia, who received a sentence of 4 years, 2 months and 20 days. The charges stemmed from roles in the management and maintenance of the derailed convoy.
End of a judicial marathon
With the Cassation ruling the criminal proceedings are now closed after 17 years. Families of the victims, who had followed the final hearing with close attention, finally saw the long-awaited judicial conclusion.
