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Schoolchildren gather near Trajan's Forum after they evacuated the school 'Ennio Quirino Visconti' during a bomb alert, in Rome on November 11, 2026. Schools were evacuated across Italy on 11 Novemebr 2026. Photo: AFP
Schools were evacuated across Italy on Wednesday following a series of hoax bomb threats, but Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said there was no "concrete danger".
Similar hoax threats were reported in schools in Britain and
Ireland, which prompted some evacuations.
Meloni said she had called a government meeting for
Wednesday, with Italian media reporting that 312 schools had received threats.
"At present, based on the checks carried out, no
element has emerged that would suggest there is a concrete danger," she
said on Facebook.
"The reports instead appear to be linked to a strategy
aimed at generating alarm and concern, which is currently the subject of all
the necessary in-depth investigations," Meloni said.
Antonello Giannelli, president of the ANP association of Italian school heads, said the threats were "clearly fake".
But he added: "This episode shows how much
irresponsibility, when combined with the extraordinary communicative power of
the tools we have today, can cause damage and disruption on a large
scale".
"We hope that full light will quickly be shed on the
origin of these threats and that those responsible will be identified," he
said.
The threats come after a series of hoax bomb alerts in
recent weeks including on flights across Europe and cyber attacks on
supermarket refrigeration systems in several European countries, including
Italy.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Saturday he was
being targeted by "cyber criminals" who were sharing his personal
data online because of Italy's support for Ukraine.
The attacks have prompted warnings about hybrid warfare.