Hundreds of Italian schools receive threats in suspected bomb hoax

Hundreds of schools across Italy received emailed bomb threats on Wednesday, prompting precautionary evacuations and police checks in what authorities described as a suspected hoax. The warnings reached schools in Rome, Naples, Vicenza, Florence, Pisa, Trieste and other cities, disrupting lessons across the country.

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said around 300 schools had received threats, according to Italian news agency ANSA. He cautioned that the tally was still rising and said the messages were considered unlikely to represent a real danger, while authorities continued investigating their origin.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said checks had produced no evidence of a concrete threat to schools. In a statement reported by ANSA, she said the warnings appeared intended to generate alarm and concern, and that law enforcement agencies and institutions were monitoring the situation.

Students, teachers and other staff were moved out of affected buildings while authorities carried out inspections. The evacuations were precautionary, with officials seeking to establish whether the threats had any substance before allowing normal school activities to resume.

In Veneto, regional authorities confirmed that dozens of schools had been affected by anonymous threatening emails. The regional administration said it was maintaining contact with the relevant agencies, including civil protection officials, and urged families to remain calm and follow instructions from authorities.

Officials in Umbria offered similar reassurance, saying all checks completed at schools in the region had returned negative results. The regional administration said police, prefectures, education officials and civil protection services were coordinating their response, while the number of affected schools remained subject to updates.

Local responses reflected the progress of individual inspections. In Mirano, the municipality said lessons had been suspended as a precaution in agreement with school leaders and families had been notified. In Fano, municipal officials said students were returning to buildings after leaving safely during the initial response.

The disruption extended beyond the security checks themselves, interrupting teaching and causing concern among school communities. ANP, an Italian association representing school leaders, said even apparently false threats could cause substantial disruption and that headteachers were working closely with police to provide information needed for inspections.

The alerts followed a similar episode in recent days involving an email sent to 280 school principals, ANSA reported. Authorities had not established who was responsible for the latest messages, and the recurrence did not itself demonstrate that the incidents had the same author.

Investigators were continuing to examine the origin of the threats as security checks proceeded. National and local officials stressed reassurance alongside caution, with municipalities advising families to rely on communications from schools and public authorities for information about inspections, suspended lessons and the resumption of activities.