The deadly collapse of a medieval tower in Rome has made global headlines, but for trade unions, it is simply the latest of many workplace tragedies in Italy.

“Today is a day of pain and anger,” said Natale Di Cola, secretary general of the CGIL union in Rome, which organised a torchlight procession Tuesday for the worker killed in Monday’s partial collapse of the Torre dei Conti.

A 66-year-old Romanian man, Octav Stroici, died in hospital after being trapped for hours under the rubble of the building, which was being renovated as part of a public project using European Union funds.

An investigation is underway into what happened on the site, in a busy area near the Colosseum, but one of his fellow workers told AFP that the site was “not safe”.

In a statement, the CGIL warned it was “a

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