MILAN — Italian authorities evacuated some 300 schools across Italy on Wednesday after receiving an emailed bomb threat, the latest disruptions affecting European institutions following hoax bomb threats against airlines and broadcasters in recent weeks.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared in a statement that no concrete danger remained for the schools, noting that the messages were intended to “generate alarm and concern.”
Meloni added that investigations were already underway and that a ministerial meeting had been scheduled for later in the day.
The anonymous email also included a personal threat directed at Minister Meloni, as reported by various Italian outlets including LaPresse. In her statement she chose not to comment on the dire message, and her office provided no immediate response.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced on Saturday that his personal data had been exposed on an encrypted dark‑web site, a move he attributed to pro‑Russian hackers.
Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara reported that roughly three hundred schools had been targeted by email threats, according to LaPresse. The ministry has not yet confirmed the details.
At Rome’s Mamiani high school, students fled to the streets believing the alarm was the recess bell, discovering the true nature of the threat only after they had left the premises.
“The claim was that an email from Russian hackers promised that anyone who did not flee would be killed, which sounded extremely violent,” said 18‑year‑old student Anita Bartocci.