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Double waterspout turns into tornado in Sicily as cars are overturned and school is badly damaged

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8 hours ago

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A terrifying double waterspout swept ashore in western Sicily on Friday, October 9, turning into a destructive tornado that damaged buildings, overturned cars and left children injured at a school in Marsala.

Dramatic footage filmed from the seafront at Biscione, in nearby Petrosino, shows two rotating columns forming over the Mediterranean before one moves towards land. The violent weather system then tears through parts of the province of Trapani, leaving a trail of destruction.

The tornado struck at around 10am local time as thunderstorms battered the island. Emergency crews were dispatched to Marsala, Petrosino and surrounding areas to deal with damage to homes, vehicles and public buildings.

According to Sicily’s regional Civil Protection department, the storm caused widespread damage along the SS115 road and nearby areas, with trees and electricity poles brought down and cars left overturned.

School badly damaged with 300 children inside

One of the worst-hit buildings was the Alcide De Gasperi school in the Terrenove area of Marsala, close to the SS115. Around 300 pupils were inside when the violent weather struck, but staff moved quickly to evacuate them.

Regional Civil Protection officials initially reported eight children with minor injuries, with some taken to Paolo Borsellino hospital in Marsala for medical checks and treatment.

Italy’s ANSA news agency subsequently reported that six children had suffered minor injuries at the school, while other people were hurt elsewhere in the affected area. The school principal said the building had been severely damaged, with windows broken, fixtures torn away and classroom materials scattered by the force of the wind.

Fortunately, there were no reports of fatalities in the initial updates. Emergency services worked to establish the full extent of the damage and assist those affected.

Cars overturned and homes damaged

Damage was not confined to the school. The tornado swept across parts of Marsala and neighbouring Petrosino, damaging houses, public facilities and vehicles. Several parked cars were overturned by the powerful winds. In Petrosino, one vehicle was reportedly struck and thrown into a ravine, leaving two people injured and requiring hospital treatment.

Homes in Petrosino also suffered heavy damage, with some properties reportedly left uninhabitable. Local authorities began arranging temporary accommodation for residents unable to return to their houses.

The council waste collection centre was among the other sites affected, while a wall around the local football stadium was reportedly brought down. Damage to electricity poles and other infrastructure added to the disruption.

Firefighters from across Trapani province were deployed, with additional teams called in from Palermo and Agrigento to help with rescue operations and the assessment of damaged buildings.

Roads and railway services disrupted

The storm also caused problems for people travelling through the area. Fallen trees, debris and damaged infrastructure obstructed roads, while railway services were affected by the closure of several level crossings.

Drivers were called on to exercise caution around damaged areas while emergency teams worked to clear routes and make buildings safe. Authorities also warned residents against relying on unverified messages circulating on social media. The town of Mazara del Vallo issued a statement urging people to follow official communications after false reports attributed to local officials began circulating online.

Why did a waterspout become a tornado?

Waterspouts are rotating columns of air that form over water, usually beneath storm clouds. Although many weaken before reaching land, some can move ashore and produce destructive winds similar to those of a tornado. In this case, the unusual double vortex formed near the port of Marsala before moving inland. The combination of thunderstorms, atmospheric instability and powerful rotating winds produced a localised but damaging event.

Waterspouts are not unheard of in the Mediterranean, particularly during unsettled weather in late summer and autumn. However, an event capable of causing this level of destruction in populated areas is a serious hazard.

Euro Weekly News previously reported on dramatic waterspouts off Italy’s Ligurian coast in March, when funnel-shaped columns formed over the sea but dissipated before reaching land.

More storms possible across the central Mediterranean

Weather conditions improved across parts of Sicily after Friday’s violent episode, but the wider central Mediterranean continued to face the possibility of further rain and thunderstorms. Not every area is expected to experience the same conditions, and the development of severe weather can vary considerably over short distances. Residents and visitors should follow local forecasts and official warnings rather than assume that improving conditions in one town mean the risk has passed elsewhere.

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How two losing scratch cards and some sticky tape led to a €10M court trial

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10 hours ago

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October 9, 2026

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Winning the jackpot is every scratch card player’s dream, however one man from Italy got sick of waiting and tried to speed up the process with some sticky tape and a lot of nerve. So how did a homemade attempt to forge a €10 million payout land a player in a Rome courtroom and not in early retirement?

The €10 million walk-in

A 50-year-old man from the province of Cosenza walked into the Italian National Lottery prize office in Rome and handed over an Il Miliardario Maxi card (“The Maxi Billionaire” card), requesting his payout for a life-changing €10,000,540.

Staff realised something was wrong almost immediately, as running straight across the middle of the ticket was a clean horizontal tear, mended together with a thin strip of clear adhesive tape.

The “Frankenstein” ticket

Pressing the two halves closely together and the card told a very interesting story. The winning numbers 56 and 19 matched the player’s numbers, the Maxi Bonus showed a 20, and a x5 multiplier appeared to deliver the huge sum being claimed.

However, official electronic checks quickly exposed the truth. Investigators discovered the ticket had been hand-stitched together from two completely different non-winning cards, and to make matters worse, Italian media Il Fatto Quotidiano, (who had dubbed it a “Frankenstein” card), also noted that the exact payout amount claimed did not even exist in the game’s official prize structure. Il Miliardario Maxi costs €20 and has a top prize of €5 million, with a second prize of €2 million

Facing the music in Rome

Staff seized the ticket on the spot, launching a lengthy investigation that eventually sent the case to a Rome tribunal. Now facing attempted fraud charges, the defendant is presumed innocent until the court delivers its verdict.

He may not have won the cash prize, but he definitely wins the prize for effort, creativity and nerve.

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Worker Sacked Over Fear Of Flying Wins €52,000

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24 hours ago

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October 8, 2026

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The court of Appeal has now ruled that the dismissal was disproportionate. Photo credit: ARMMY PICCA/Shutterstock

The fear of flying affects an estimated 500 million people worldwide. Some of those people fly despite their fear, sometimes with the help of medication, while for others the fear is so severe that they avoid flying altogether.

For people with a severe fear of flying, the prospect of having to board a plane can be more than just uncomfortable, particularly when international travel becomes part of their working life. But what happens when an employer expects you to travel by air, and you have already made it clear that you cannot?

His employer knew about his fear for years

Giuseppe Capoluongo had worked as a cabling technician for Bergami Packaging Solutions in Altedo, near Bologna, since 2002. His fear of flying became an issue in 2011, when a possible work trip to the United States was discussed.

He told the company he suffered from aerophobia and supplied a medical certificate. Following a meeting involving a representative from the FIOM trade union, the company agreed not to send him on assignments that required air travel. For more than 12 years, he was not asked to undertake work trips involving flights. 

The passport request that led to his dismissal

That arrangement came under pressure in 2024, when the company wanted Capoluongo to be available for possible overseas assignments. It repeatedly asked him, including in writing, to begin the process of obtaining a passport. Capoluongo did not act on the requests. He maintained his position because of his fear of flying and believed the previous arrangement with his employer still applied.

The company treated his failure to comply as a disciplinary matter, taking account of earlier sanctions, and dismissed him on 27 March 2024. Capoluongo challenged the decision in court, but initially lost. In November 2025, the Bologna tribunal ruled in the company’s favour, finding that his medical certificate did not exempt him from obtaining a passport and that he had no sufficient justification for failing to do so. He appealed the ruling. 

Why the appeal court ruled in his favour

The Bologna Court of Appeal has now overturned that decision in part, finding that dismissal was a disproportionate response to his conduct. The judges did not say the company was wrong to ask him to apply for a passport. They accepted that the request was legitimate and that his failure to respond had disciplinary significance. However, they considered the circumstances in which the dispute arose, including the employer’s longstanding knowledge of his condition and the arrangement that had been followed for more than a decade.

After so many years without being asked to fly for work, Capoluongo could reasonably have believed that the agreement remained in place. His failure to act on the passport requests was not serious enough to justify losing his job, the appeal court found.  His lawyer, Alberto Piccinini, told Italian media that the key issue was proportionality. During the final discussions with the company, Capoluongo had indicated that he would proceed with the passport application if it was required. According to his lawyer, he was dismissed the following day. 

How much must the company pay?

Capoluongo’s lawyer, Alberto Piccinini, told Italian media that the key issue was proportionality. During discussions before his dismissal, the worker had indicated he would proceed with the passport application if the company required it. According to reports, he was dismissed the following day. 

The appeal court awarded him compensation equivalent to 20 months of his final salary. Based on monthly pay of over €2,500 this comes to over €52,000 with additional compensation for notice, interest and inflation adjustments. The court did not order the company to reinstate him. Its decision instead overturned the earlier ruling in the employer’s favour and found that dismissal was too severe a penalty for his failure to obtain the passport.

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Seven Under Investigation After Deadly Accident At Rome’s Colosseum

Published

2 weeks ago

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September 25, 2026

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They did not see the fall but heard the impact and raised the alarm. Photo credit: V_E/Shutterstock

If you’ve ever stood inside Rome’s Colosseum, you may have looked up at the ancient stonework and wondered how people managed to build such a place nearly 2,000 years ago. Today, the monument is one of Italy’s biggest tourist attractions, with thousands of visitors passing through its arches every day.

But behind the scenes, the Colosseum is also a working site, with specialist crews carrying out maintenance and improvement work in parts of the ancient structure that visitors never see. That work is now at the centre of an investigation involving seven people after the death of a young worker.

22-year-old worker dies at Colosseum

Andrea Moretti, 22, was working on the installation of a new lighting system inside the Colosseum when he fell around 10 metres between the second and third levels of the ancient amphitheatre shortly before midnight on Tuesday. Two other workers were inside the monument at the time, including Moretti’s brother-in-law.

They did not see the fall but heard the impact and raised the alarm. Emergency services attempted to resuscitate Moretti, but he died at the scene. Moretti was a specialist in rope-access work and was carrying out the job at height as part of the lighting project. His death prompted prosecutors in Rome to open an investigation into alleged culpable homicide and possible breaches of workplace safety regulations.

Seven people under investigation

Seven people have now been placed under investigation while prosecutors examine who was responsible for workplace safety during the project. Investigators have obtained documentation relating to the companies involved in the work, including the subcontractor carrying out the installation.

The investigation is looking at the organisation of the job, the safety measures in place and the chain of responsibility between the different companies involved. Being placed under investigation in Italy does not mean the individuals have been found responsible for Moretti’s death or that they will necessarily face trial.

Safety equipment examined

One of the main questions concerns the equipment Moretti was using when he fell. According to investigators, he was wearing his harness and other protective equipment, but his safety rope was not attached when he was found. The rope itself had not broken and was located several metres above the point where Moretti fell.

Investigators have seized the equipment for technical examination as they try to establish why the rope was not attached and whether this played a role in the accident. CCTV footage from the area has also been collected, while a drone was used to document the location where the fall occurred. Human error has not been ruled out, but prosecutors have not established that this was the cause. They are examining the equipment, working arrangements and responsibilities surrounding the project before drawing conclusions.

Colosseum closed following death

The Colosseum was closed following Moretti’s death as a mark of respect for the young worker and his family. The closure is expected to continue until Saturday, September 26, when the monument is due to reopen to visitors. Italy’s Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli is also due to meet workers at the Archaeological Park before the reopening.

The investigation is examining why the work was being carried out at night as well as the arrangements for supervising the project. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, September 28, at the University of Rome La Sapienza’s forensic medicine institute. The results, together with the technical examination of Moretti’s safety equipment and other evidence gathered from the site, will help prosecutors establish what happened during the final moments before the fall and whether any workplace safety rules were breached.

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