Bridges Resilience and Climate Extremes: A 30-Year Review of Failures in Italy

Bridges and viaducts are critical components of transportation networks, ensuring not only territorial continuity, but also economic development and emergency accessibility. Their proper functioning is therefore crucial for the resilience and safety of entire regions. Unfortunately, structural damage to these structures is not uncommon, and in some cases, such failures have involved road users and resulted in casualties. Among the most frequent causes are anthropogenic factors such as negligence or accidental impacts. However, a concerning proportion of cases is related to natural events, particularly floods and landslides. In recent years, the growing frequency of extreme natural rainfall events, triggering floods, landslides, and other hydrogeological hazards, has revealed new vulnerabilities in infrastructure systems. Many of these phenomena are consistent with climate-driven scenarios, which has increased the unpredictability and intensity of environmental stressors. These hazards can compromise the structural integrity of a bridge either through direct mechanical impact or by altering the surrounding terrain, activating failure mechanisms that are not always accounted for in traditional maintenance or design frameworks. This study presents some results from a database of bridge failures of varying severity that occurred in Italy over the last 30 years, with particular attention to those coinciding with extreme weather events. This study focuses on bridge distress associated with climate-related events, investigated through a systematic review of publicly available sources. The results underscore the importance of incorporating environmental hazard factors into prioritization and risk mitigation strategies for transport infrastructure.