What happened on the evening of June 29, 2009 and how was it possible. And then: could it happen again? A very unpleasant episode recounts the facts of the Viareggio train accident in which 32 people lost their lives, the very long procedural process with all its problems and contradictions, tries to shed light on how it was possible that the axle of a train traveling on the European railway network transporting dangerous goods broke due to wear and tear, causing a massacre and, at the same time following the red thread of the investigations, narrates the events and inquiries of the last 15 years that have laid bare the state of European railway safety and its current situation.
A central topic for the near future given that by 2030, In the name of the green transition, the number of freight trains carrying hazardous substances on the European rail network – from LPG to nuclear waste – is set to virtually double.
With testimonies, news events linked to the narration of a trial ‘begun’ with the first suspects in February 2010, this book by journalists Giovanni Lorenzini and Francesco Bertolucci – who were present on site and followed the story from the very evening of the disaster – tells the story of September 11th of a city and of rail transport in Europe: since that day, nothing is the same as before.
The two authors
Giovanni Lorenzini, born in 1956, professional journalist. He worked for the newspaper from 1973 until 2016, the year of his retirement The nation for which he held the positions of both editor and deputy editor. He dealt with news, both crime and judicial, touching on the most sensational cases that shocked Versilia: from the Circe case to the flood, passing through the cases of missing women and numerous other crimes. He has been a correspondent for the for years Gazzetta dello Sport. On the evening of June 29, he was on the night shift. It was he, shortly before midnight, who first warned the Florentine editorial office of the newspaper: “Stop the newspaper…”
Francesco Bertolucci, a journalist born in 1980, has been following the story since the very evening of the accident. Raised in La Nazione, he collaborates with FirenzeToday and has created articles and reports for Il Manifesto, Boston Globe, Domani, Tpi, Left, Junge Welt, Linkiesta, 20 Minuti, Affari Italiani, Donna Moderna. Graduated in history, he is co-author of the research The Italians of Sachsenhausen (Panozzo Editore, 2022). In 2015 he made the documentary Geoffrey Cauley (Rai 5), and in 2023 The Forgotten of Sachsenhausen (Rai Storia, RaiPlay).
The proceeds from the book will be donated entirely to the families of the victims of the massacre, gathered in the association The World I Would Like
