Italy inaugurates a sleek new bridge in Genoa on Monday, though relatives of the 43 people killed when the old viaduct collapsed say the pomp and ceremony risk overshadowing the tragedy.

A general view shows the Genoa bridge as engineers perform static testing operations ahead of its inauguration in Genoa, Italy on July 19. Photo: VCG

Jets trailing the colors of the Italian flag will roar overhead as the national anthem plays, almost two years to the day the Morandi highway gave way during heavy rain, hurling dozens of cars and several trucks onto railway tracks below.

President Sergio Mattarella will be the first to officially cross the new bridge, designed by famed Italian architect Renzo Piano, who gave it a curved, gleaming underbelly evoking the hull of a ship in tribute to Genoa's maritime history.

The names of the victims will be read aloud - though many of their loved ones will not be present. "We won't be at the inauguration, we don't want the tragedy to be transformed into a carnival," said Egle Possetti, whose sister died in the August 14, 2018 disaster along with her husband and their two children.

"You can have this sort of big party if you knock down the bridge because it's old, you build a new one, and no one's died."
Newspaper headline: Italy opens new bridge in Genoa