The state television studios are shocked by the death of Giovanni, one of the evening news program’s star anchormen, after his last dramatic appearance on air. The news of his passing is so upsetting that everyone prefers to forget about it in a hurry: the executives at the TV channel are relieved to get back to the programming, and the staff plunges back into its normal routine. But something’s just not right about that sudden death, and, years later, a reporter and close friend of Giovanni’s, who had paired up with him on many professional assignments, decides to look through his friend’s papers, locked in an office at Saxa Rubra where no one has ever set foot since that fatal day. Or so it seems.

Born in La Spezia, Maurizio Mannoni has been a reporter for the RAI channel Tg3 for years, and the host of Tg3 Linea notte up to 2023. He has been in charge of some of RAI TV’s most popular news programs and investigative reports, including Ultimo minuto, Primo piano, and Un giorno per sempre. Since May 2024, he has been part of Piero Chiambretti’s show Donne sull’orlo di una crisi di nervi, airing on Raitre. Quella notte a Saxa Rubra is Mannoni’s first novel.