A structural engineer who lectures at Genoa University, Antonio Brencich, warned back in 2016 that there were problems with the bridge, Italian media report. It was inaugurated in 1967.

"Right away the bridge manifested various problems, beyond the construction costs, which went over budget," he wrote in 2016.

"There are errors in this bridge. Sooner or later it will have to be replaced. I don't know when," he warned.

The Italian site ingegneri.info quotes his warning in full.

In the 1990s some major repairs were done to the bridge.

Mr Brencich said the designer, Riccardo Morandi, had miscalculated the "viscous deformation" - an ageing effect on reinforced concrete. "He was an engineer with great insight but lacking in practical calculations."