Credit : ANSA
ROME, November 11, 2026 – Thousands of schools across Italy received an emailed bomb threat on Wednesday, and hundreds were evacuated while police checked buildings, Italian authorities and news agencies said. Officials said there was no sign of a concrete danger and that the messages appeared intended to spread fear.
Italy’s education ministry said more than 6,300 schools received the email, according to the Associated Press, while ministry sources told ANSA that around 6,000 schools were sent the message. Reuters, posting on X, said about 6,300 schools received bomb warnings, “the latest in a series of threats and cyberattacks around Europe against supermarkets, blood banks, air traffic and broadcasters.” Not all of the schools were evacuated. ANSA said hundreds were emptied while police searched for explosives. NBC News and Al Jazeera reported that at least 300 schools were evacuated.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said there was no indication of any “concrete danger” to schools and that the threats appeared aimed at “generating alarm and concern,” the Associated Press reported. She called a meeting of ministers for later on Wednesday. Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara told reporters that, given how many schools were involved, “the real risk is almost non-existent,” though he said investigators had to consider whether someone stood behind the messages. Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said the emails were aimed at “sowing terror, or creating concern.”
The anonymous email also threatened Meloni, according to copies obtained by Italian media, including the LaPresse news agency, AP reported. It purported to come from the leader of an otherwise unknown group and was signed with the same Russian name used in threats against European broadcasters last week. Authorities have not attributed the threats to any group or state, and no evidence has emerged linking the hoaxes to a government.
Similar messages were sent to schools in Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Police Scotland said it was treating the messages as hoaxes and was not requiring schools to evacuate, saying: “Our assessment remains that they do not represent a credible threat.” Police in Northern Ireland said they were making urgent inquiries after a threatening email was sent to hundreds of schools. Police in Ireland said they were aware of a “generic communication” sent to several educational institutions. Reuters separately reported that threats sent to UK and Irish schools had been dismissed as a hoax.
No suspicious items were reported found in the Italian searches covered by the initial agency reports, and no injuries were reported. At Rome’s Mamiani high school, students were moved into the street; one pupil, Anita Bartocci, 18, told reporters the email was “pretty violent.”
Italian officials have, in recent days, also reported other cyber incidents, including a claim by Meloni that pro-Russian hackers were involved in an earlier leak of a minister’s personal data. Those earlier episodes have not been officially tied to Wednesday’s school emails, and investigators had not, in the initial reports, named a culprit.
False bomb threats have been relatively common in Europe in recent weeks, including messages that disrupted flights. Officials have linked some earlier incidents to cyberattacks, but they have not publicly confirmed who sent Wednesday’s school emails.
Source: Reuters, ANSA, Associated Press, NBC News and Al Jazeera
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