On 11 November 2026, a nationwide wave of bomb-threat emails reached thousands of schools across Italy, prompting precautionary evacuations in many areas and police checks in others, with responses differing locally depending on guidance from law enforcement.
According to RaiNews’ live coverage of the day, the Ministry of Education said the threatening message reached around 6,000 schools out of roughly 7,600 state schools, adding that many emails were reportedly diverted into spam folders—one reason the impact was uneven and not all schools evacuated.
Scale of the email wave and what was reported
The largest figure in the RaiNews timeline is attributed to the Education Ministry: the email reached about 6,000 institutions. The same reporting stresses that the disruption did not follow a single national script: some schools evacuated immediately, while others continued activities after consultation with police.
Later, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, in a video message posted on social media and quoted by RaiNews, said more than 1,000 schools were evacuated and more than 6,000 were threatened. He described the alerts as unfounded and urged a return to class the next day. These numbers and conclusions are presented as Salvini’s statements rather than results of a published technical investigation.
Government response: emergency meeting at Palazzo Chigi (16:00–17:30)
RaiNews reports that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni convened an urgent meeting at Palazzo Chigi, indicated as running from 16:00 to 17:30 (about 90 minutes).
According to the same reporting, those attending included Deputy Prime Ministers Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, as well as the heads of Italy’s intelligence services and the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN). The meeting was framed as a top-level effort to take stock of the situation, including the broader picture of alarms and reports and elements described in the live coverage as potentially involving hacker-related activity—without any public attribution in the dossier to a specific actor.
Opposition leaders invited: briefing moved to 08:30 the next day
RaiNews also reports that a meeting with opposition leaders at Palazzo Chigi was brought forward to 08:30 the following day (12 November 2026), with the stated aim of sharing information and updating them on the overall picture of alarms and reports, including those described as linked to hacker-matrix activity and the school bomb scares.
In the same RaiNews account, opposition forces accepted the invitation but requested a formal step in Parliament to report and clarify what happened. Names cited include Debora Serracchiani, Giuseppe Conte, Elly Schlein, Riccardo Magi, Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni.
Local management: evacuations, checks and efforts to avoid panic
RaiNews’ live coverage highlights how decisions varied city by city. One detailed example comes from Giaveno (near Turin), where three schools were evacuated. The mayor, Stefano Olocco, was quoted as saying that—so as not to frighten children—the evacuation was presented as “a drill”. The same item describes inspections in the school buildings involving the local police and the Carabinieri.
Trentino-Alto Adige reportedly not reached by the emails; explanation remains unconfirmed
RaiNews reports that no schools in Trentino-Alto Adige appeared to have received the threatening emails. Provincial education official Philipp Achammer is cited offering a hypothesis: the region’s autonomy and the use of email addresses not tied to the Ministry’s network might explain the apparent exclusion.
Crucially, RaiNews notes that this remains an unconfirmed hypothesis and is not yet backed by official technical checks in the material available.
Disinformation: a false voice message in Pomezia parent chats
Alongside the institutional response, RaiNews reports a case of misinformation circulating in private chats. In Pomezia, a voice note shared in so-called “mothers’ chats” claimed an explosive device had been found at a local school.
The RaiNews timeline describes the audio as false, adding that law enforcement had no record of any explosive device in any of the area’s 21 school buildings.
Political statements: ‘creating chaos’ and the ease of email threats
Senior officials used political language to frame the episode. RaiNews reports that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking during Question Time in the Chamber of Deputies, warned of a strategy aimed at creating chaos and undermining citizens’ trust.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, also quoted by RaiNews, said the alarms were part of a strategy to spread terror or create concern and stressed that it is easy to send threatening emails to schools or other places.
Calls for clearer procedures
RaiNews reports that the National Coordination of Teachers for Human Rights (Cnddu) proposed a national operating system connected to public security authorities and structures responsible for cybersecurity to help schools assess digital alarms.
In Lombardy, education councillor Simona Tironi urged families and schools to remain calm and follow official communications, saying she was in contact for updates and calling for clear, uniform procedures.
What remains unverified in the available dossier
Based on the RaiNews live coverage provided, the episode can be described as a mass wave of threatening emails that triggered evacuations and checks, followed by high-level government meetings. However, the dossier does not include a public technical report that attributes the operation to a specific actor or explains the email delivery method in detail. Any discussion of “hacker” activity is therefore reported here only as a topic included in the government’s situation assessment, not as established responsibility.
