Nearly eight years after one of Italy's worst infrastructure disasters in decades, a court in Genoa is expected to deliver a first-instance verdict on Thursday in the criminal trial over the collapse of the Morandi bridge, which killed 43 people on 14 August 2018.

The bridge gave way on a summer morning as dozens of vehicles crossed it, sending cars and trucks plummeting onto railway tracks below. Among the dead were Claudia Possetti, her husband Andrea — the two had just married — and her two children, aged 12 and 16, who were on their way to a holiday on the Italian Riviera. Prosecutors have argued the disaster was the result of negligence and have pursued charges against dozens of individuals connected to the bridge's ownership and maintenance.

For the families of the victims, Thursday's hearing carries enormous emotional weight. Egle Possetti, Claudia's sister and a representative of the victims' families committee, described feeling