Italian President Sergio Mattarella will visit the cemetery in Tesero where victims of the Stava disaster are buried and attend a commemorative ceremony at the Tesero Municipal Theatre. This marks the 40th anniversary of the catastrophe that claimed 268 lives.
On July 19, 1985, at approximately 12:20 PM, the retaining dam of the upper basin at the Prestavel mine – a tailings dump for mining waste – collapsed onto the lower basin. A wave of mud, 20 to 40 centimeters deep, surged through the Stava valley at 90 kilometers per hour. It devastated an area of approximately 435,000 square meters over a path of 4.2 kilometers, reaching the confluence of the Rio Stava and the Avisio stream.
The mudflow killed nearly three hundred people, completely destroyed 3 hotels, 53 homes, and 6 industrial buildings, demolished 8 bridges, and severely damaged 9 other structures.
Following the Tesero ceremony, President Mattarella will travel to Rovereto for the centenary celebration of ‘Maria Dolens’ (Mary Grieving), the bell cast from the bronze of cannons belonging to nations that fought in the First World War. The event at the Bell of the Fallen is scheduled for 12:30 PM.
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