Maybe he was returning home, maybe it was just a day like any other. No one will ever know what really happened in those last moments, on that road that winds between Valcamonica and Val di Scalve. But what remains, stuck between the branches of a cruel destiny, is the deafening silence left by Manuel Magnolia, 34, from Seui, in Ogliastra, where he grew up and lives in Darfo, in the province of Brescia.
He was driving a Fiat Panda, his mother Monica Puddu's car, when something went wrong . Perhaps a moment of distraction, perhaps a breakdown or a sudden loss of control: the only certainty is that the car skidded, leaving the road and falling into the embankment. The trees only partially slowed the car's fall, but Manuel was thrown out of the cockpit, falling hundreds of meters. A terrible fall, with no chance of escape.
The owner of the land where the tragedy occurred discovered the body. He saw the car stuck between the logs and then, further down, the lifeless body of the young man. He called for help, but there was nothing more that could be done.
Manuel Magnolia had left Seui as a teenager to move to the North, where his older brother, Ivan, 38, already lived. But the bond with his land had remained strong: a few years ago he had returned, bought land, got some livestock, perhaps with the idea of staying. But in the end he had returned to Darfo, where he worked in a construction company and lived with his mother, a caretaker at the scientific high school in Seui who had moved there at the end of last summer after the school downsizing that had also involved her school. His father Piero, on the other hand, lives in Seui.
When he returned to the village for the summer holidays, Manuel brought with him his smile, the desire to be with friends, the evenings spent together and the games at Sa Murra . He made no distinctions: he chatted with everyone, even with the elderly sitting in the streets of the village. “He leaves like this, too soon, a boy who still had so much to live for”, they comment incredulously and dismayed in the village.
T he first to remember him publicly was Ivan, with a message, written in Sardinian Seuese, that mixes pain and brotherly affection: "You went for a walk in the countryside, because you didn't listen and always did what you wanted. Just as you liked. Now, from heaven, take care of your grandchildren." Words that tell of his pure stubbornness, of his desire for adventure, but also of the deep love that Manuel had for his family.
Meanwhile, his relatives, aunts and uncles, are already on their way to Darfo, where Manuel will be buried in the next few days.