List of disasters in Italy by death toll

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Map of Italy and its divisions

This list of Italian disasters by death toll includes major disasters (excluding acts of war) that occurred on Italian soil or involved Italian citizens, in a definable incident. This list only includes disaster that occurred after the 1861 proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, and as such disasters such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD are not included.

over 500 deaths

Fatalities	Year	Article	Type	Location	Comments
198,523	2020-2024	COVID-19 pandemic in Italy	Pandemic	Nationwide
75,000-82,000	1908	1908 Messina earthquake	Earthquake	Sicily and Calabria
~50,000	1884-1887	1881–1896 cholera pandemic	Pandemic	Nationwide	[1]
30,519	1915	1915 Avezzano earthquake	Earthquake	Province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo
~2,500	1963	Vajont Dam disaster	Dam collapse	Vajont river valley in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Veneto
2,483	1980	1980 Irpinia earthquake	Earthquake	Campania , Basilicata , and Apulia
2,313-3,100	1883	1883 Casamicciola earthquake	Earthquake	Ischia, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania
1,404	1930	1930 Irpinia earthquake	Earthquake	Campania , Basilicata , and Apulia
990	1976	1976 Friuli earthquake	Earthquake	Friuli-Venezia Giulia
~600	1887	1887 Liguria earthquake	Earthquake	Province of Imperia, Liguria
562	1891	Sinking of the SS Utopia	Shipwreck	Gibraltar	Sank en route from Trieste to New York, virtually all passengers on board were Italian emigrants.
558	1905	1905 Calabria earthquake	Earthquake	Calabria
517	1944	Balvano train disaster	Train disaster	Balvano, Province of Potenza, Basilicata

100 to 499 deaths

Fatalities	Year	Article	Type	Location	Comments
356	1923	Gleno Dam disaster	Dam failure	Province of Bergamo, Lombardy
318	1954	1954 Salerno flood  [ it ]	Flood	Province of Salerno, Campania
314	1927	SS Principessa Mafalda	Shipwreck	Atlantic Ocean off of Brazil
309	2009	2009 L'Aquila earthquake	Earthquake	Province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo
299	2016	August 2016 Central Italy earthquake	Earthquake	Central Italy
293+	1906	Sinking of the SS Sirio	Shipwreck	Mediterranean Sea off of Spain	Italian steamship carrying Italian and Spanish emigrants to South America. 622 of the 697 on board were Italians. The official death toll was 293, however there was an unknown number of stowaways on board as well.
281	1916	Pagliari explosion  [ it ]	Explosion	La Spezia, Province of La Spezia, Liguria
268	1985	Val di Stava dam collapse	Dam collapse	Tesero, Trentino, Trentino-Alto Adige
247	1919	San Spiridione disaster  [ it ]	Ship explosion	Venice, Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto
231-400	1968	1968 Belice earthquake	Earthquake	Sicily	[2]
229	2009-2010	2009 swine flu pandemic	Pandemic	Nationwide
216	1906	1906 Mount Vesuvius eruption  [ it ]	Volcanic eruption	Campania
171	1920	1920 Garfagnana earthquake	Earthquake	Tuscany
167	1907	1907 Calabria earthquake	Earthquake	Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, Calabria
161	1998	1998 Sarno and Quindici landslides	Landslides	Provinces of Salerno, Caserta, and Avellino, Campania
~150	1922	Falconara explosion  [ it ]	Explosion	Lerici, province of La Spezia, Liguria	[3]
140	1991	Moby Prince disaster	Ship collision	Ligurian Sea off of the Province of Livorno, Tuscany
137	1943	Caltanissetta Xirbi tragedy  [ it ]	Train collision	Caltanissetta, Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily	No investigation was done into the crash as it was during war-time. Whether it was sabotage or not is unknown.
118	2001	2001 Linate Airport runway collision	Runway collision	Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy
115	1972	Alitalia Flight 112	Plane crash	Mount Longa, Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily
111	1935	Zerbino dam disaster  [ it ]	Dam collapse	Orba Valley, Province of Alessandria, Piedmont
108	1978	Alitalia Flight 4128	Plane crash	Tyrrhenian Sea
108	1951	The Polesine flood of November 1951  [ it ]	Floods	Province of Rovigo and the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto
100	1919	1919 Mugello earthquake  [ it ]	Earthquake	Mugello, Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany

10 to 99 deaths

Fatalities	Year	Article	Type	Location	Comments
~94	1962	Alitalia Flight 771	Plane crash	Junnar, Maharashtra, India	While the exact number isn't known the vast majority of passengers and all of the crew on board the aircraft were Italian nationals
81	1980	Itavia Flight 870	Plane disaster	Tyrrhenian Sea	Cause of crash highly contested [4]
80	1873	1873 Alpago earthquake	Earthquake	Provinces of Belluno, Treviso and Pordenone, Veneto
72	1968	1968 Piedmont flood  [ it ]	Flood	Province of Vercelli, Piedmont
71	1961	Fiumarella rail disaster	Train derailment	Province of Catanzaro, Calabria
~70	1945	Baschi train accident  [ it ]	Train collision	Province of Terni, Umbria
69	1994	1994 Tanaro flood  [ it ]	Flood	Provinces of Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria and the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont
69	1959	TWA Flight 891	Plane crash	Olgiate Olona, Province of Varese, Lombardy
67	1999	Via Giotto in Foggia building collapse	Building collapse	Foggia, Province of Foggia, Apulia
64	1963	Cinema Statuto fire	Building fire	Turin, Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont
64	1962	Voghera train crash	Train disaster	Voghera, Province of Pavia, Lombardy
58	1959	Via Canosa in Barletta building collapse	Building collapse	Barletta, Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, Apulia
56 (Italians)	1965	Mattmark avalanche  [ it ]	Avalanche	Visp District, Valais, Switzerland
55	1917	Venzan landslide  [ it ]	Landslide	Panchià, Trentino, Trentino-Alto Adige
54 (Italians)	2004	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami	Earthquake and tsunami	Southeast Asia	54 Italian tourists were killed in the disaster, primarily in Thailand
54	1946	Torre Annunziata disaster  [ it ]	Explosion	Torre Annunziata, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania
53	1987	Val Pola landslide	Landslide	Valdisotto and Tartano, Province of Sondrio, Lombardy
52	1971	1971 RAF Hercules crash	Plane crash	near Meloria, province of Livorno, Tuscany
50	1910	1910 Irpinia earthquake  [ it ]	Earthquake	Province of Avellino, Campania
49	1948	1948 Piedmont flood  [ it ]	Flood	Provinces of Asti and Cuneo, Piedmont	[5]
49	1995	Banat Air Flight 166	Plane crash	Sommacampagna, Province of Verona, Veneto
49	1964	TWA Flight 800	Plane crash	Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio
48	1925	Sinking of the Sebastiano Veniero  [ it ]	Submarine accident	Mediterranean Sea off of Sicily
48	1947	Sinking of the Annamaria  [ it ]	Shipwreck	Albenga, Province of Savona, Liguria
46 (Italians)	1956	Sinking of the SS Andrea Doria	Shipwreck	Atlantic Ocean off of Massachusetts
45	1964	Alitalia Flight 45	Plane crash	Ercolano, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania
44	1977	Monte Serra plane crash  [ it ]	Plane crash	Monte Serra  [ it ], Province of Pisa, Tuscany
43	2018	Ponte Morandi collapse	Bridge collapse	Genoa, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria
43	1954	Ribolla mine tragedy	Mine explosion	Ribolla, Roccastrada, Province of Grosseto, Tuscany
42	1978	Murazze di Vado train disaster	Train accident	Monzuno, Metropolitan City of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna
41	1971	Heleanna fire  [ it ]	Ship fire	Adriatic Sea off of the Province of Brindisi, Apulia
40	2013	2013 Monteforte Irpino bus crash	Bus crash	Province of Avellino, Campania
40	1917	Arquata Scrivia train accident  [ it ]	Train derailment	Arquata Scrivia, province of Alessandria, Piedmont
40	1893	Limito railway disaster  [ it ]	Train collision	Pioltello, Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy
38	1974	Itavia Flight 897  [ it ]	Plane crash	Caselle Torinese, Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont
37	2018	Storm Adrian	Storm	Nationwide
37	1987	Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 460	Plane crash	Lasnigo, Province of Como, Lombardy
37	2009	2009 Messina floods and mudslides	Mudslides	Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily
36	1970	1970 Padua-Venice tornado  [ it ]	Tornado	The Province of Padua and the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto
36	1939	Torre Annunziata train accident  [ it ]	Train accident	Torre Annunziata, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania
35	1983	Nervi disaster  [ it ]	Bus crash	Genoa, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria
35	1982	Palazzo del Vignola fire  [ it ]	Building fire	Todi, Province of Perugia, Umbria
35	1970	1970 Genoa flood  [ it ]	Flood	Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria
35	1954	BOAC Flight 781	Plane crash	Mediterranean Sea
35	1966	1966 flood of the Arno	Flood	Province of Florence, Tuscany
33	1988	Uganda Airlines Flight 775	Plane crash	Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio
32	2009	Viareggio train derailment	Train derailment	Viareggio, Province of Lucca, Lombardy
32	2012	sinking of the Costa Concordia	Shipwreck	Isola del Giglio, province of Grosseto, Tuscany
31	1952	1952 Hunting Air Travel crash  [ it ]	Plane crash	Bivona, Province of Agrigento, Sicily
31	1949	Superga air disaster	Plane crash	Superga, Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont
31	1979	Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 12	Plane crash	Capoterra, Province of Cagliari, Sardinia
31	1958	British European Airways Flight 142	Mid-air collision	Nettuno, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio
29	2017	Rigopiano avalanche	Avalanche	Farindola, Province of Pescara, Abruzzo
29	2002	2002 Molise earthquakes	Earthquake	Molise and Apulia
29	1955	Sabena Flight 503	Plane crash	Monte Terminillo, Province of Rieti, Lazio
29	1945	Prat da l'Ors powder magazine explosion  [ it ]	Explosion	Chiusaforte, Province of Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
28	1942	Nocera Inferiore train accident  [ it ]	Train accident	Nocera Inferiore, province of Salerno, Campania
28	1980	Curinga train disaster	Train accident	Curinga, province of Catanzaro, Calabria
27	1917	Sant'Osvaldo disaster  [ it ]	Explosion	Udine, province of Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
27	2012	2012 Northern Italy earthquakes	Earthquake	Emilia-Romagna
27	1972	Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 327	Plane crash	Corato, Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia
27	1998	Collapse of Via di Vigna Jacobini 65  [ it ]	Building collapse	Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio
26	1944	1944 Mount Vesuvius eruption  [ it ]	Volcanic eruption	Metropolitan City of Naples and province of Salerno, Campania
26	1953	1953 Mediterranean Sea mid-air collision	Mid-air collision	Strait of Sicily
25	1918	Tuscan-Emilian Apennines earthquake  [ it ]	Earthquake	Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna , particularly the Province of Forlì-Cesena
25	1920	Train collision over the Venetian Lagoon  [ it ]	Train collision	Ponte della Libertà, Venetian Lagoon, Veneto
25	1889	Quartu flood of 5 October 1889  [ it ]	Flood	Quartu Sant'Elena, Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Sardinia
24-33	1971	1971 Tuscania earthquake	Earthquake	Province of Viterbo, Lazio
24	1955	Morgnano disaster  [ it ]	Mining disaster	Spoleto, province of Perugia, Umbria
24	1930	1930 Montello Tornado  [ it ]	Tornado	Province of Treviso, Veneto
23	2016	Andria–Corato train collision	Train collision	Andria, province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, Apulia	[6]
23	2000	2000 Piedmont flood  [ it ]	Flood	Piedmont
23	1921	Magliana railway accident  [ it ]	Train collision	Magliana Station, Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio
22	2023	2023 Venice bus crash	Bus crash	Marghera, Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto
22	1953	Benevento train accident  [ it ]	Train derailment	Benevento, Province of Benevento, Campania
21	1956	Monte Giner air crash  [ it ]	Plane crash	Ossana, Trentino, Trentino-Alto Adige
21	1960	Misrair Flight 738  [ it ]	Plane crash	Elba, province of Livorno, Tuscany
20	1998	1998 Cavalese cable car crash	Plane collision	Cavalese, Trentino, Trentino-Alto Adige
20	1917	1917 Valtiberina earthquake  [ it ]	Earthquake	Tiber Valley in Tuscany and Umbria
20	1949	1949 Benevento flood  [ it ]	Flood	Province of Benevento, Campania
20	1900	Castel Giubileo train disaster  [ it ]	Train collision	Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio
19	1936	1936 Cansiglio earthquake	Earthquake	Provinces of Belluno, Treviso and Pordenone, Veneto
19	1953	Sinnai plane crash  [ it ]	Plane crash	Sinnai, Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Sardinia
19	1990	1990 Carlentini earthquake	Earthquake	Sicily
18	2013	2013 Sardinia floods	Floods	Olbia, Province of Gallura North-East Sardinia, Sardinia
18	1935	Sinking of the Curzola  [ it ]	Shipwreck	Mediterranean Sea off of Sicily
18	1930	1930 Senigallia earthquake	Earthquake	Senigallia, Province of Ancona, Marche
18	1995	1995 Eastern Sicily storm  [ it ]	Storm	Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily	Includes 12 deaths on board the Greek ship Pelhunter
17	2023	2023 Emilia-Romagna floods	Floods	Emilia-Romagna
17	1960	Monza train accident  [ it ]	Train accident	Monza, Province of Monza and Brianza, Lombardy
17	2005	Crevalcore train crash	Train collision	Crevalcore, Metropolitan City of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna
17	1962	1962 Irpinia earthquake	Earthquake	Province of Avellino, Campania
16	2005	Tuninter Flight 1153	Plane crash	Mediterranean Sea near Sicily
16	1934	Piombino railway accident  [ it ]	Train collision	Piombino, province of Livorno, Campania
15+	1936	Contigliano train accident  [ it ]	Train collision	Contigliano, province of Rieti, Lazio
15	1957	Codogno rail crash	Train accident	Codogno, Province of Lodi, Lombardy
15	1945	1945 Avro York crash	Plane crash	Mediterranean off of Lampedusa, province of Agrigento, Sicily
15	1912	Guardia Mangano train accident  [ it ]	Train accident	Acireale, Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily
15	1930	Sasso Bolognese railway accident  [ it ]	Train accident	Sasso Marconi, Metropolitan City of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna
14-17	1919	1919 Verona Caproni Ca.48 crash	Plane crash	Verona, province of Verona, Veneto
14	2021	Stresa–Mottarone cable car crash	Cable car accident	Mottarone, Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piedmont
14	1996	1996 Versilia flood  [ it ]	Flood	Versilia, province of Lucca, Tuscany
14	1979	Cercola train accident  [ it ]	Train collision	Cercola, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania
13	1990	Sinking of the Espresso Trapani  [ it ]	Shipwreck	Trapani, Province of Trapani, Sicily
13	1962	Castel Bolognese train disaster	Train derailment	Castel Bolognese, Province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna
13	1987	Elisabetta Montanari disaster  [ it ]	Ship disaster	Ravenna, province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna	[7]
13	2022	2022 Marche floods  [ it ]	Floods	Marche
13	2011	2011 Vara and Magra Valley Floods  [ it ]	Flood	Provinces of La Spezia and Massa-Carrara, Tuscany
13	1903	Codroipo train accident  [ it ]	Train collision	Codroipo, province of Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
12	1989	Crotone train accident  [ it ]	Train accident	Province of Crotone, Calabria
12	1933	1933 Maiella earthquake  [ it ]	Earthquake	Maiella, Abruzzo
12	1967	Battipaglia train accident  [ it ]	Train collision	Battipaglia, province of Salerno,
12	1991	Pavillon avalanche  [ it ]	Avalanche	Courmayeur, Aosta Valley
12	1990	1990 Italian Air Force MB-326 crash	Plane crash	Casalecchio di Reno, Metropolitan City of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna
12	2022	2022 Ischia landslide	Landslide	Ischia, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania
12	1968	Alitalia Flight 660	Plane crash	Vergiate, province of Varese, Lombardy
11	1946	Monte San Primo avalanche  [ it ]	Avalanche	Bellagio, province of Como, Lombardy
11	2022	2022 Marmolada serac collapse	Mountaineering disaster	Marmolada, Trentino, Trentino-Alto Adige
11	1996	Secondigliano tragedy	Gas explosion	Naples, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania
11	1960	Itavia Flight 115  [ it ]	Plane crash	Elba, province of Livorno, Tuscany
11	1882	Verona flood of 1882  [ it ]	Flood	Province of Verona, Veneto
11	1997	1997 Umbria and Marche earthquakes	Earthquake	Umbria and Marche
11	1983	Champoluc-Crest cable car accident  [ it ]	Cable car accident	Aosta Valley
11	1916	Pedaso train accident  [ it ]	Train accident	Pedaso, Province of Fermo, Marche
10	1985	Coronella train accident  [ it ]	Train collision	Poggio Renatico, Province of Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna
10	1962	Sinking of the Potho  [ it ]	Shipwreck	Monte Conero, province of Ancona, Marche
10	1931	1931 Palermo flood  [ it ]	Flood	Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily

Gallery

• 
  2012 Northern Italy earthquakes
• 
  1944 Mount Vesuvius eruption
• 
  Coronella train accident
• 
  Curinga train disaster
• 
  Superga air disaster
• 
  Sinking of the Costa Concordia
• 
  1930 Montello Tornado
• 
  Banat Air Flight 166
• 
  2002 Molise earthquakes
• 
  Murazze di Vado train disaster
• 
  Ponte Morandi collapse
• 
  Rigopiano avalanche
• 
  2009 Messina floods and mudslides
• 
  TWA Flight 800
• 
  Storm Adrian
• 
  Nocera Inferiore train accident
• 
  Viareggio train derailment
• 
  1980 Irpinia earthquake
• 
  Vajont Dam disaster
• 
  Elisabetta Montanari disaster
• 
  Sabena Flight 503
• 
  Sarno landslide
• 
  2011 Vara and Magra Valley floods
• 
  Alitalia Flight 112
• 
  1971 Tuscania earthquake
• 
  2023 Venice bus crash
• 
  1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius
• 
  1908 Messina earthquake
• 
  August 2016 Central Italy earthquake
• 
  2009 L'Aquila earthquake
• 
  2000 Piedmont flood
• 
  Champoluc-Crest cable car accident
• 
  Castel Giubileo train disaster
• 
  1998 Cavalese cable car crash
• 
  2023 Emilia-Romagna floods
• 
  Itavia Flight 115
• 
  Fiumarella rail disaster
• 
  Val Pola landslide

See also

• List of disasters in Spain by death toll
• List of disasters in Croatia by death toll
• List of disasters in Greece by death toll
• List of disasters in France by death toll
• List of disasters in Switzerland by death toll

References

1. Snowden, Frank Martin (1995). Naples in the time of cholera, 1884-1911. Cambridge University Press. p. 85. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
2. "Belice earthquake 1968". The Civil Protection Department (Protezione Civile. Archived from the original on 7 April 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
3. "GREAT ITALIAN EXPLOSION". Singleton Argus. 3 October 1922. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
4. McMahon, Barbara (21 July 2006). "The mystery of flight 870". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 September 2025.
5. Gianola, G. Antonella. "L'ALLUVIONE DEL 4 SETTEMBRE 1948 Le vittime e i danni. Solidarietà e assistenza. La situazione socio-economica della città nel dopoguerra. L'operato dell'amministrazione Comunale" (PDF). ISRAT (in Italian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
6. "Italy rail crash: Andria station master 'let crash train go'". BBC News. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
7. "Nave in fiamme, 13 morti" (in Italian). La Stampa. 14 March 1987. Retrieved 2 September 2025.