More than 300 schools across Italy were evacuated on Wednesday after receiving identical bomb threat emails, triggering widespread security operations and disrupting classes across the country.
Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara confirmed that approximately 300 schools had been affected, adding that the number could rise as authorities continued monitoring the situation.
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The alerts were reportedly believed to be hoaxes, although police launched investigations and security checks following the threats.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said there was no indication of any “concrete danger” to schools, describing the threats as an apparent attempt to generate fear and public concern.
She disclosed that investigations were ongoing and announced that she had convened a meeting of ministers to discuss the incident.
The anonymous email reportedly contained threats against Meloni herself, although she did not publicly address the personal threat in her statement.
At several schools, students and teachers were moved to designated safe locations while security personnel conducted inspections.
One school in Rome informed parents that all students had been evacuated and were being supervised by teachers.
At Rome’s Mamiani High School, some students initially mistook the evacuation alarm for the break-time bell before learning about the bomb threat.
An 18-year-old student, Anita Bartocci, described the threatening message as violent, saying it contained explicit threats against students and staff.
“They are saying it was a bomb alert because an email arrived from Russian hackers in which they said they would have killed everyone. It was pretty violent,” Bartocci said.
The incident comes amid growing security concerns across Europe following a series of suspected hoax bomb threats and cyber-related disruptions targeting public institutions, airlines, broadcasters and other critical services.
Italian police are continuing investigations to establish the origin of the emails and identify those responsible.
Authorities have not reported any confirmed explosives discovered in connection with the threats.
