Two 36-year-old graffiti writers fall from occupied Turin university building

The fall

Two men aged 36, both graffiti writers, fell at about 4:30 on Friday, 13 November 2026 from a ladder on the corso San Maurizio side of Palazzo Nuovo, the humanities building of the University of Turin. Students are occupying the building. ANSA reported an early reconstruction in which the pair were trying to reach a wall to paint a graffiti and were using ropes. Il Giornale, citing Repubblica, said the men had joined the protest and were helping prepare the spaces by painting murals. According to first information, both were wearing ropes and harnesses, but Fanpage reported that the rope did not hold, for reasons still to be clarified.

Injuries and treatment

One man was taken to the San Giovanni Bosco hospital, where he was intubated and was about to go to the operating theatre for orthopaedic and neurosurgical procedures. The other was taken to the Cto hospital with a fractured femur and several rib fractures, and underwent surgery on the femur. His prognosis is 60 days. Two medicalised ambulances from the Red Cross in Turin, activated through the 118 service run by Azienda Zero, stabilised both men at the scene. Early reports gave a green triage code, but ANSA later said both had been brought in under the red code rather than green. Students said, according to il Giornale, that neither man was in danger of life. Firefighters secured the area, and carabinieri from the San Carlo company opened an inquiry.

Political reaction

Minister Anna Maria Bernini commented on the incident and said occupying turns a safe place into a dangerous one.

“Occupying means turning a safe space into a dangerous place.”

She added that climbing university walls to paint graffiti puts the climbers' lives and health at risk, not only the building. She argued that when an occupation replaces the rules of the academic community, safety becomes a problem for everyone, and she called on the protesters to reopen Palazzo Nuovo. In a note quoted by il Giornale, the students called the injured men comrades who had joined the occupation of their own accord. They said the accident did not change the reasons for their protest.

Investigation

Carabinieri are reconstructing the dynamics of the fall and checking how the roof of the building was accessed. The University of Turin's rector said the institution was following developments closely, with particular attention to the health of the injured men, and that it was available to the competent authorities. La Stampa reported that there appeared to be no doubt the fall was an accident. The inquiry is still under way, and no cause for the failure of the rope has been established in the reports.