A quarter of the Fascist-era Bolzano courthouse caved in early on Thursday during renovation work. Fortunately, only three cleaners were inside with one suffering minor scratches, in what the court’s president called a miracle.
A large section of the courthouse in the northern Italian city of Bolzano collapsed early on Thursday, just hours before the building was due to open for business.
At least a quarter of the structure, a Fascist-era building that was in the midst of renovation and extension work, gave way. Only three people were inside at the time and just one suffered minor scratches.
“It could have been a tragedy”
Court President Francesca Bortolotti described the scale of the escape as extraordinary. “At the time of the collapse, only three people — three cleaners — were inside the courthouse; only one suffered minor scratches, but it can be called a miracle,” she told ANSA. “It could have been a tragedy.”
According to Bortolotti, the failure originated in the load-bearing pillars in the section of the building undergoing renovation.
Prosecutor Axel Bisignano confirmed that the whole central part of the courthouse has now been declared unfit for use. He said it remained too early to determine the cause of the collapse, with attention now turning to the practical fallout rather than the investigation itself.
“The aim now is to restore service as soon as possible and figure out how to redistribute the workforce,” Bisignano said.
With a significant portion of the building out of action, court officials face the immediate challenge of relocating staff and maintaining operations while the cause of the collapse, and the safety of what remains standing, is established.
