A sudden stop in the Base Tunnel on the A1 motorway triggered a fatal collision on Tuesday afternoon. A Fiat Panda, halted in the driving lane, was struck by a truck unable to avoid a violent impact.
The incident occurred in the Tuscan section of the Base Tunnel near the Emilia-Romagna border between Firenzuola and Badia. The crash claimed three lives: a 70-year-old man and two women, aged 65 and 39. A 4-year-old girl is in critical condition with a guarded prognosis at Florence’s Meyer Children’s Hospital. A 37-year-old woman, suffering multiple trauma, is also critically injured with a guarded prognosis at Careggi Hospital’s trauma center.
The five car occupants, residents of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province in Piedmont, included the injured woman (the driver and mother of the child) and the girl. The deceased were the maternal grandparents and an aunt of the child. The truck driver, unharmed, tested negative for alcohol and drugs.
Emergency services, including Florence firefighters, Bologna traffic police, Autostrade personnel, and medics from Florence and Bologna, responded. Firefighters used hydraulic tools to extract the victims. Traffic was completely blocked northbound from 2 PM until just before 4 PM for rescue operations, investigations, and vehicle removal, causing a 7-kilometer queue where Autostrade technicians distributed water. Traffic normalized around 5 PM.
Preliminary reports indicate the Panda, traveling towards Bologna, suddenly stopped in the tunnel driving lane, with dashcam footage showing it stationary with hazard lights on for several seconds. While other vehicles avoided it, the truck braked unsuccessfully. Traffic police are investigating why the car stopped and failed to pull over to a nearby emergency layby, possibly due to mechanical failure. A dog in the car also died.
The Florence prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry. Earlier on Tuesday, a forest fire near Barberino del Mugello (Florence) prompted a safety closure on the A1 Panoramica, involving regional firefighting teams, a helicopter, mountain community squads, volunteers, firefighters, and forest police. Traffic there resumed shortly before 1 PM.