One email, thousands of Italian schools and a bomb in Meloni’s car: Rome says it was all meant to frighten
Italian schools were evacuated across the country on Wednesday after emails claimed bombs had been planted in them, with one message also claiming a device in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's car. Ministers say there was no concrete danger and are calling it a deliberate attempt to spread fear. Schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland received threats the same day.
Updates
- 4.08am AWSTLatest
Italy's education minister says lessons will go ahead as normal on Thursday. No device has been reported found.
- Late Wednesday AWST
Meloni says there is no evidence of a concrete threat and that the emails were meant to instil fear. The education minister now says about 6,300 schools received the email.
- Wednesday afternoon AWST
Schools across Italy are evacuated after emailed bomb threats; police in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland report similar emails and treat them as hoaxes.
Three things to know
- Italy's education minister first said about 300 schools were threatened, then put the number of schools that received the email at about 6,300; police say the number evacuated is not known.
- Meloni says there is no evidence of a real threat and that the emails were designed to cause alarm, not harm; nobody has been publicly named as the sender.
- Police in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland treated near-identical emails as hoaxes, and most of their schools stayed open.
Thousands of Italian schools received emailed bomb threats on Wednesday, emptying classrooms from Rome to Milan and pulling the prime minister’s own security into the story: one message claimed a bomb had been planted in the engine of Giorgia Meloni’s car.
No device has been reported found. Meloni said after an emergency meeting of senior ministers and security chiefs that there was no indication of a concrete danger, and that the messages appeared designed to generate alarm and concern rather than cause harm.
How many schools were hit?
The number has grown through the day. Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara first told Italian television about 300 schools had received threats. He later said about 6,300 schools had received the email, some of which had not seen it because it went to spam folders.
Not every school evacuated. Italian police said the exact number was undetermined, because each school decided whether to leave its buildings on advice from its local police branch. Parents at a primary school in central Rome were called to collect their children.
Who sent it?
Nobody has been publicly identified. Investigators are working with European counterparts, Meloni said, adding that she would not speculate. Valditara said the risk was virtually non-existent and called the emails most likely a cyberattack, part of a strategy rather than the act of a lone hoaxer.
Not every minister went that far. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said it was premature to speak of a coordinated plot, noting that such threats aim to overwhelm emergency systems with alerts that are mostly unfounded. Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said it was part of a strategy of sowing fear, and warned Italians to expect more of it.
Why does a hoax matter if nobody is hurt?
Because the cost is real even when the bomb is not. Every threatened school had to make a judgement call, with police, in the middle of a school morning. Children were moved out of classrooms, parents were called to collect them, and police checked buildings across the country. That disruption, multiplied across a country for the price of one email, is what Italy’s ministers say the senders were after.
It also comes after a run of similar hoaxes across Europe. In recent weeks, hoax bomb threats have disrupted flights and forced media organisations out of their buildings.
What happened in the UK and Ireland?
Police in Northern Ireland said more than 300 schools received a threatening email that came from outside the UK. They treated it as a hoax and described the risk to the public as low. Northern Ireland’s Education Authority said the message resembled a hoax sent last month, when up to 300 schools received near-identical threats that turned out to be false alarms.
Police Scotland said schools there had received threatening messages that were being treated as hoaxes, and that the emails alone did not warrant evacuation. In the Republic of Ireland, police said a generic message sent to a number of schools and colleges was assessed as not credible, and advised against evacuations.
Are Italian schools open today?
Valditara said there was no cause for alarm and that lessons would go ahead as normal on Thursday.
VNN will update this story as more is confirmed.
How we got here
The key moments that brought this story into focus. Open any moment for detail.
October 2026Northern Ireland hoax
Up to 300 Northern Ireland schools receive near-identical emailed threats, later found to be false alarms.
Early November 2026Media and flights
Hoax bomb threats disrupt flights and force media organisations in Europe to evacuate.
11 November 2026Italy's schools
Thousands of Italian schools receive emailed bomb threats; one claims a device in the prime minister's car.
What happens next
Italian police and prosecutors are investigating the source of the emails with European counterparts. Schools in Italy are due to open as normal on Thursday, and police in Northern Ireland say their enquiries are continuing.
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