Parts of the courthouse in Bolzano collapsed – cleaning worker slightly injured

The woman was reached by phone and guided out of the building at risk of collapse through a safe exit to the outside, the fire brigade said. "Der gesamte Gerichtsplatz wird abgeriegelt," said Bolzano's mayor Claudio Corrarati. The president of the Bolzano Regional Court, Francesca Bortolotti, also thanked all the emergency services and said that the safety of the building was now the top priority.

Cause and ongoing investigations

The professional fire brigade carried out an initial on-site inspection with the help of a drone. A turntable ladder was also used to gain an overview of the situation from above. In the area behind the colonnades of the regional court, a gaping hole was visible, with stones and parts of the building lying on the square. The situation at Bolzano's courthouse square was currently "still unclear," it was said; emergency services, along with search dogs, were still searching through the rubble.

How the collapse occurred was initially unclear and subject to investigation. An attack is currently not assumed. According to the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol, shortly before large parts of the courthouse collapsed, the building's load-bearing columns had buckled. As RAI Südtirol reported, citing the fire brigade operations commander, renovation work on the load-bearing columns was underway in the courthouse. The Province confirmed that renovation and extension work had recently been ongoing in the building; these had been important works to improve the structural integrity.

Renovation concept and history of the building

Around 150 employees normally work in the courthouse. As early as May 2024, the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol, together with the president of the court, had presented a renovation concept for the Palace of Justice. The project, estimated at around ten million euros, envisaged, among other things, the renovation of the entrance areas, the air conditioning of the courtrooms, structural improvements and a modernization of the security technology.

Chief Prosecutor Corrado Mistri spoke of a "nur knapp verhinderten Tragödie." The provincial councillor responsible for building construction and properties, Christian Bianchi, also warned: "Wäre der Einsturz nur eine halbe Stunde oder Stunde später passiert, würden wir heute eine völlig andere Geschichte erzählen." In parallel, they are also examining how the building can be protected from further damage.

Outlook: Structural assessment and replacement premises

Structural engineers were still expected to enter the building on Thursday afternoon to assess its stability. Only then can a final decision be made as to whether only the collapsed section or the entire courthouse is unusable. Part of the court files is likely to be buried under the rubble. At the same time, alternative premises for urgent court hearings are already being sought; the ministry is already working on solutions to enable proceedings to continue nonetheless.

Fascist legacies and the debate

The building was constructed from 1939 onwards during Italian fascist rule as part of the large-scale transformation of Bolzano into "Grande Bolzano" under Benito Mussolini. The inscription on the Palace of Justice, "Pro Italico Imperio Virtute Iustitia Hierachia Unguibus Et Rostris" ("For the Italian Empire through valour, justice and hierarchy with claws and teeth"), which refers to the violent imperial claim of fascist Italy, has still not been contextualised to this day. Opposite the Palace of Justice stands the former party headquarters of the Italian Fascist Party, the "Casa Littoria," which today houses the tax office; the relief there was contextualised in 2017 with a Hannah Arendt quote: "Kein Mensch hat das Recht zu gehorchen."

The South Tyrolean political scientist and historian Günther Pallaver soberly assessed the incident in a conversation with ORF.at: "Natürlich wäre es falsch, aus einem bautechnischen Schaden ein historisches Symbol abzuleiten … Gebäude würden nicht wegen ihrer Ideologie einstürzen, sondern wegen Materialermüdung, Wartung, Eingriffen in die Bausubstanz oder anderer Gründen." In the South Tyrolean provincial parliament, the handling of fascist monuments and their public impact had recently been discussed again.