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The Night of Rome
In the night of Rome, nothing is what it seems.
It’s all change in Rome. The new Pope, determined to bring radical reform to the Vatican, proclaims an extraordinary Jubilee year of Mercy. A new centre-left government replaces its disgraced predecessor, and sets about to rejuvenate the language of politics. And with crime lynchpin Samurai in jail, his protégé Sebastiano Laurenti attempts to establish himself as his designated successor. But he must reckon not only with a new generation of enterprising gangsters and racketeers—out to carve for themselves a slice of the profits and opportunities offered by the major public works planned for the Jubilee—but also with ambitious newly elected politician Chiara Visoni, and his own heart. Betrayals, alliances forged and broken, ambushes and infighting will inevitably alter the fragile political balance. As the sharks circle and the street-dogs fight, some tenuous hope endures, in the unlikely alliance of an incorruptible politician of the old left, all but forgotten, and a young bishop who refuses to play the Vatican’s power games. But it remains to be seen whether the long night of Rome can make room for redemption. Sharp and fast-paced, dark and taut, The Night of Rome is fiction that sails dangerously close to the wind of current events.
316 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 20, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 11, 2019
This is a follow-up to Suburra , inspired by a real-life corruption scandal, and made famous on the screen, initially with the film in 2015, then its adaptation as an excellent TV series on Netflix. The strength of all of those was its characters, set against the background of the political battle between the Vatican, and the Mafia.
This isn’t as strong though, there is too much politics and too little character development and action. It may be a mistake to sideline Samurai, the so-called ‘King Of Rome’, who only makes fleeting appearances from his prison cell, awaiting an appeal case. Sebastiano Laurenti is the only character that survives from Suburra , and much of the story develops around him; 5 years on Sebastiano has assumed control as heir apparent. This therefore, isn’t so much a sequel as a stand-alone with passing reference only to events of 5 years ago. Fans of the original, myself included, want more from those wonderful creations of characters, Aureliano and Gabrielle, and Spadino with his gypsy heritage.
The sense of toxic masculinity is enhanced here, as in the first book, something Netflix did well to dilute, with several very powerful female characters (Sara, Angelica, Adelaide..).
What this book does well is to present a picture of politics in modern day Rome, with its Bugatti motorcycles and Prada suits, a city populated by neofascists and refugees, where old communists rub shoulders with members of the populist Five Star Movement, and two popes, Francis and Benedict XVI, attempt to compromise a millennium of dogma with the material world.
For many fans though, this will be of less interest.
A rare example of the TV series spin-off being stronger than the movie being stronger than the book being stronger than its sequel.
This isn’t as strong though, there is too much politics and too little character development and action. It may be a mistake to sideline Samurai, the so-called ‘King Of Rome’, who only makes fleeting appearances from his prison cell, awaiting an appeal case. Sebastiano Laurenti is the only character that survives from Suburra , and much of the story develops around him; 5 years on Sebastiano has assumed control as heir apparent. This therefore, isn’t so much a sequel as a stand-alone with passing reference only to events of 5 years ago. Fans of the original, myself included, want more from those wonderful creations of characters, Aureliano and Gabrielle, and Spadino with his gypsy heritage.
The sense of toxic masculinity is enhanced here, as in the first book, something Netflix did well to dilute, with several very powerful female characters (Sara, Angelica, Adelaide..).
What this book does well is to present a picture of politics in modern day Rome, with its Bugatti motorcycles and Prada suits, a city populated by neofascists and refugees, where old communists rub shoulders with members of the populist Five Star Movement, and two popes, Francis and Benedict XVI, attempt to compromise a millennium of dogma with the material world.
For many fans though, this will be of less interest.
A rare example of the TV series spin-off being stronger than the movie being stronger than the book being stronger than its sequel.
September 18, 2026
The Night of Rome by Carlo Bonini + Giancarlo de Cataldo —translated by Anthony Shugaar
Rome, Italy. March-June 2015.
This reading was a bit of a slog for me. That’s more on me than the authors. Carlo Bonini, day job- investigative journalist and Giancarlo de Cataldo, a magistrate, in Rome. First, how do two people co-write a book? A collaboration no doubt… a chapter written by one and edited by the other, then vice versa? Don’t know.
I seem to have trouble with both the church, the Vatican, and with Rome- the city subservient-that relies on its trappings and activities. And all that feeds off it.
This is a fictional version of true events occurring in the buildup to Pope Francis’ Jubilee which opened later in 2015… for more on the backstory to the events, the players and the author’s, please see link below: an excellent review in the LA Review of Books.
Here follows —a sampling of the story, writings and its characters, readers can decide from there…
“The way they’d built it was by plundering the bronze statues of the Pantheon. Learn this, son: quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini. What the barbarians didn’t do, the Barberini did. —The barbarians and the popes. Rome. Yesterday. Today. And for all eternity.”
Jailed Boss. “Samurai was studying the fourth satire from the first book of Juvenal’s Satires. —Samurai mentally prepared his sermon for his next meeting with his lawyer. The message would reach Sebastiano loud and clear: Caesar could not be excluded from such a generous fish. They must at all costs get a seat at the table of the jubilee.” —Samurai raised himself up on his forearms. He caught his breath, resting there for a long while… —the exile wasn’t destined to last much longer. Certainly, much less than the fifteen years and six months to which he’d been sentenced in his first trial and on appeal. And which the Supreme Court would soon reduce, if not throw out completely. —So many, too many, were dancing on the brink of the abyss. All of them bound to him by a cord that he couldn’t allow to snap. But now they were trying to bend him. He took in at a distracted glance the landscape that for the past three years and four months had punctuated his days. A cell ten feet by thirteen, a cot, a high window, well out of reach, plastic furniture with rounded edges, no flammable objects, -A small table anchored to the floor to prevent it being used as an offensive weapon. A small sink and a toilet. —Audio recording, video recording, censorship stamps on the correspondence. A long, continuous silence. —Underlying philosophy: undermine free will, encourage defections, induce hard-liners to turn state’s witness. But not with him. Samurai wasn’t going to fold. Samurai was going to come back.”
The Italian Left. “the friends of the party—a neologism that had replaced the obsolete and deeply suspect comrades— A party. Yes, a party to ward off the danger of a funeral. The funeral of the old chapter office of the Italian Communist Party, … —Adriano Polimeni, former party senator, first taken his membership card? It had been 1973. It was a membership in the Communist Youth Federation, affectionately known as the See-Why-Eff. —cooler to consort with the extremists.Then came a succession of new names, the PCI, or Italian Communist party, the DPS, or Democratic Party of the Left, the DS, or Democrats of the Left, and the DP, or Democratic Party. —altered its identity. Everything had been tossed overboard. Literally everything. —with Berlinguer, and people had called him a Soviet. —supported the about-face with which, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Communist had been eliminated from the party’s logo. ... -the new formation. The Thing, that’s what they’d called it. La Cosa. -what he was interested in, much more than the Cosa, had been the cause. —to change Italy,” …—don’t count on Rome. There’s no city on earth as fickle and slippery as this one. Here the great loves and the undying hatreds last as long as it takes to drink an espresso,”
“Sebastiano looked around at them one more time as they finally took their seats around the table, with a sensation that was a mixture of contempt and contentment. Malgradi, Jabba, Mariani. Majority, Opposition, Party of Builders. The government of Rome. —democracy worked more efficiently when it only involved three voices. Excuse me, five voices, if you counted Samurai, temporarily away, and he, who served as Samurai’s proconsul. —budget?” “500 million for bricks and mortar and 500 million for rail.” “I would have expected worse.” “Me too. —every reason to be optimistic. “Renovation and updating of the railway station of Vigna Clara —“Restoration and reinforcement of the quays along the Tiber —establishment of at least five new electric bus lines; “Repaving of the street grid with pedestrian areas and partial pedestrian areas along the so-called ‘pilgrimage routes’ in the historical center: —construction of fifty public urinals; “Renovation of the area around the Termini Station . . .” —Mariani ran his hands through his greasy hair… “In spite of the crisis, we’ve decided to stick to the 2000 agreement. Which is the same as for the metro C line.” … —;And 13 percent to Samurai . . . “You thought wrong. What’s today’s date?” Today is the sixteenth.” “Right. So we’ll take 16 percent.”
Sebastiano. — “Samurai had attributed the fury with which he’d defied his orders to mere youthful enthusiasm. But, upon more careful reflection, it might be something else. Something far more dangerous. Hence the link with Dostoyevsky. Raskolnikov, a murderer who seeks redemption without repentance, only to come at last to the conviction that there can be no redemption without repentance. —The possibility of an alternative path disturbed him. It troubled him that someone like Dostoyevsky should have written it. He adored Dostoyevsky. A great romantic who had known czarist prisons, and who had passed from a revolutionary youth to the far right. —The Ragnarök of the Nordic sagas. In the end, he’d emerge dead. Or else free. Free and cleansed. —he was capable of reading his protégé’s mind. Sebastiano would finish up his game with Fabietto, and then he’d leave him. For good.”
—“not with people like Polimeni. Men like him were dangerous because they could serve as the foundation for a reconstruction of that damned holy alliance between incorruptible officials, the Franciscan church, honest cops, and let’s even throw in the good judges. The nobility of the arcana imperii constantly threatened by the hordes of the various Robespierres that come along Latin phrase originally used by the Roman historian Tacitus. “State Secrets” There, that’s a term that renders the idea. Moralists. In short, it was for all these reasons that Polimeni had to die.”
The Priest, Don Giovanni. “Wealth devoid of generosity makes us believe that we’re all-powerful, like God. And in the end, it deprives us of the best thing there can be: Hope. Blessed are the poor in spirit. We must rid ourselves of our attachment to wealth, and we must ensure that the riches that have been given to us are spent for the common good. The only way.”
Yeh sure. Rome has many ways to divide the spoils. Wet your beak. Go forth and prosper. Think of the riches to follow— when the Olympics come to Rome.
Antihero City | Los Angeles Review of Books.
https://share.google/o9oezBCKnSQfI0vB2
Rome, Italy. March-June 2015.
This reading was a bit of a slog for me. That’s more on me than the authors. Carlo Bonini, day job- investigative journalist and Giancarlo de Cataldo, a magistrate, in Rome. First, how do two people co-write a book? A collaboration no doubt… a chapter written by one and edited by the other, then vice versa? Don’t know.
I seem to have trouble with both the church, the Vatican, and with Rome- the city subservient-that relies on its trappings and activities. And all that feeds off it.
This is a fictional version of true events occurring in the buildup to Pope Francis’ Jubilee which opened later in 2015… for more on the backstory to the events, the players and the author’s, please see link below: an excellent review in the LA Review of Books.
Here follows —a sampling of the story, writings and its characters, readers can decide from there…
“The way they’d built it was by plundering the bronze statues of the Pantheon. Learn this, son: quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini. What the barbarians didn’t do, the Barberini did. —The barbarians and the popes. Rome. Yesterday. Today. And for all eternity.”
Jailed Boss. “Samurai was studying the fourth satire from the first book of Juvenal’s Satires. —Samurai mentally prepared his sermon for his next meeting with his lawyer. The message would reach Sebastiano loud and clear: Caesar could not be excluded from such a generous fish. They must at all costs get a seat at the table of the jubilee.” —Samurai raised himself up on his forearms. He caught his breath, resting there for a long while… —the exile wasn’t destined to last much longer. Certainly, much less than the fifteen years and six months to which he’d been sentenced in his first trial and on appeal. And which the Supreme Court would soon reduce, if not throw out completely. —So many, too many, were dancing on the brink of the abyss. All of them bound to him by a cord that he couldn’t allow to snap. But now they were trying to bend him. He took in at a distracted glance the landscape that for the past three years and four months had punctuated his days. A cell ten feet by thirteen, a cot, a high window, well out of reach, plastic furniture with rounded edges, no flammable objects, -A small table anchored to the floor to prevent it being used as an offensive weapon. A small sink and a toilet. —Audio recording, video recording, censorship stamps on the correspondence. A long, continuous silence. —Underlying philosophy: undermine free will, encourage defections, induce hard-liners to turn state’s witness. But not with him. Samurai wasn’t going to fold. Samurai was going to come back.”
The Italian Left. “the friends of the party—a neologism that had replaced the obsolete and deeply suspect comrades— A party. Yes, a party to ward off the danger of a funeral. The funeral of the old chapter office of the Italian Communist Party, … —Adriano Polimeni, former party senator, first taken his membership card? It had been 1973. It was a membership in the Communist Youth Federation, affectionately known as the See-Why-Eff. —cooler to consort with the extremists.Then came a succession of new names, the PCI, or Italian Communist party, the DPS, or Democratic Party of the Left, the DS, or Democrats of the Left, and the DP, or Democratic Party. —altered its identity. Everything had been tossed overboard. Literally everything. —with Berlinguer, and people had called him a Soviet. —supported the about-face with which, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Communist had been eliminated from the party’s logo. ... -the new formation. The Thing, that’s what they’d called it. La Cosa. -what he was interested in, much more than the Cosa, had been the cause. —to change Italy,” …—don’t count on Rome. There’s no city on earth as fickle and slippery as this one. Here the great loves and the undying hatreds last as long as it takes to drink an espresso,”
“Sebastiano looked around at them one more time as they finally took their seats around the table, with a sensation that was a mixture of contempt and contentment. Malgradi, Jabba, Mariani. Majority, Opposition, Party of Builders. The government of Rome. —democracy worked more efficiently when it only involved three voices. Excuse me, five voices, if you counted Samurai, temporarily away, and he, who served as Samurai’s proconsul. —budget?” “500 million for bricks and mortar and 500 million for rail.” “I would have expected worse.” “Me too. —every reason to be optimistic. “Renovation and updating of the railway station of Vigna Clara —“Restoration and reinforcement of the quays along the Tiber —establishment of at least five new electric bus lines; “Repaving of the street grid with pedestrian areas and partial pedestrian areas along the so-called ‘pilgrimage routes’ in the historical center: —construction of fifty public urinals; “Renovation of the area around the Termini Station . . .” —Mariani ran his hands through his greasy hair… “In spite of the crisis, we’ve decided to stick to the 2000 agreement. Which is the same as for the metro C line.” … —;And 13 percent to Samurai . . . “You thought wrong. What’s today’s date?” Today is the sixteenth.” “Right. So we’ll take 16 percent.”
Sebastiano. — “Samurai had attributed the fury with which he’d defied his orders to mere youthful enthusiasm. But, upon more careful reflection, it might be something else. Something far more dangerous. Hence the link with Dostoyevsky. Raskolnikov, a murderer who seeks redemption without repentance, only to come at last to the conviction that there can be no redemption without repentance. —The possibility of an alternative path disturbed him. It troubled him that someone like Dostoyevsky should have written it. He adored Dostoyevsky. A great romantic who had known czarist prisons, and who had passed from a revolutionary youth to the far right. —The Ragnarök of the Nordic sagas. In the end, he’d emerge dead. Or else free. Free and cleansed. —he was capable of reading his protégé’s mind. Sebastiano would finish up his game with Fabietto, and then he’d leave him. For good.”
—“not with people like Polimeni. Men like him were dangerous because they could serve as the foundation for a reconstruction of that damned holy alliance between incorruptible officials, the Franciscan church, honest cops, and let’s even throw in the good judges. The nobility of the arcana imperii constantly threatened by the hordes of the various Robespierres that come along Latin phrase originally used by the Roman historian Tacitus. “State Secrets” There, that’s a term that renders the idea. Moralists. In short, it was for all these reasons that Polimeni had to die.”
The Priest, Don Giovanni. “Wealth devoid of generosity makes us believe that we’re all-powerful, like God. And in the end, it deprives us of the best thing there can be: Hope. Blessed are the poor in spirit. We must rid ourselves of our attachment to wealth, and we must ensure that the riches that have been given to us are spent for the common good. The only way.”
Yeh sure. Rome has many ways to divide the spoils. Wet your beak. Go forth and prosper. Think of the riches to follow— when the Olympics come to Rome.
Antihero City | Los Angeles Review of Books.
https://share.google/o9oezBCKnSQfI0vB2
June 26, 2025
meno di 4 stelle
bello come il precedente Suburra.. alcuni personaggi noti altri nuovi, tutti ottimi.. mi piace come vengono tratteggiati con poche parole.. solo che c'è un po' troppa politica e troppe chiacchere specie nella parte centrale e la vicenda l'ho trovata perciò meno interessante..
bello come il precedente Suburra.. alcuni personaggi noti altri nuovi, tutti ottimi.. mi piace come vengono tratteggiati con poche parole.. solo che c'è un po' troppa politica e troppe chiacchere specie nella parte centrale e la vicenda l'ho trovata perciò meno interessante..
May 3, 2016
Sono tra coloro che hanno amato Romanzo Criminale, il libro e anche il film, un libro di rara potenza nel panorama letterario del noir italiano. Ho anche seguito con interesse i libri che sono venuti dopo, in particolare ho trovato Suburra piuttosto buono.
Ora, con La Notte di Roma, sembra che il filone narrativo stia perdendo la sua forza e la sua ispirazione; questa storia è la trasposizione letteraria delle recenti vicende di Mafia Capitale senza che la fiction aggiunga molto, sembra quasi un compendio (che a volte scade anche nella caricatura) delle cronache di quei fatti con nomi di fantasia, con l'aggiunta di qualche personaggio secondario sullo sfondo. Ne esce una storia piatta, debole, che si trascina abbastanza stancamente fino a un pistolotto finale buonista, e l'autore non riesce ad aggiungere molto pathos a quelle che sono le pur squallide vicende della capitale, non rinunciando però a far trasparire in modo neanche tanto velato alcune delle sue preferenze relative alla attuale situazione politica generale in Italia (dove la "rottamazione" dei quarantenni di stile renziano emerge in alcuni personaggi che però non riescono a proporre più che una scimmiottatura della realtà).
Mi è capitato di leggere questo libro subito dopo Agents of Innocence di David Ignatius, e il contrasto con quello che è una storia basata su uno sfondo storico, con tutto il lavoro di documentazione e ricostruzione che questo richiede, ne è emerso impietoso.
Ora, con La Notte di Roma, sembra che il filone narrativo stia perdendo la sua forza e la sua ispirazione; questa storia è la trasposizione letteraria delle recenti vicende di Mafia Capitale senza che la fiction aggiunga molto, sembra quasi un compendio (che a volte scade anche nella caricatura) delle cronache di quei fatti con nomi di fantasia, con l'aggiunta di qualche personaggio secondario sullo sfondo. Ne esce una storia piatta, debole, che si trascina abbastanza stancamente fino a un pistolotto finale buonista, e l'autore non riesce ad aggiungere molto pathos a quelle che sono le pur squallide vicende della capitale, non rinunciando però a far trasparire in modo neanche tanto velato alcune delle sue preferenze relative alla attuale situazione politica generale in Italia (dove la "rottamazione" dei quarantenni di stile renziano emerge in alcuni personaggi che però non riescono a proporre più che una scimmiottatura della realtà).
Mi è capitato di leggere questo libro subito dopo Agents of Innocence di David Ignatius, e il contrasto con quello che è una storia basata su uno sfondo storico, con tutto il lavoro di documentazione e ricostruzione che questo richiede, ne è emerso impietoso.
November 15, 2015
Premetto il fatto che non ho letto Suburra e quindi non so dire se ci sia un'evoluzione o un'involuzione della vena creativa di De Cataldo e Bonini.
La prima parte del libro è costituita da un noioso preambolo e quindi la boccio. "La notte di Roma" è una fiction (mica tanto) basata sullo scandalo di "mafia capitale".
La seconda è più dinamica, aperta ai colpi di scena – l'ultimo troppo sbrigativo ma efficace.
Secondo il mio parere è un libro che non rappresenta alcuna novità all'interno del panorama letterario italiano. Il target di lettore è quello medio basso, credo che le parole più difficili siano legati all'ambiente giuridico.
Sintesi? Romanzo da passatempo.
La prima parte del libro è costituita da un noioso preambolo e quindi la boccio. "La notte di Roma" è una fiction (mica tanto) basata sullo scandalo di "mafia capitale".
La seconda è più dinamica, aperta ai colpi di scena – l'ultimo troppo sbrigativo ma efficace.
Secondo il mio parere è un libro che non rappresenta alcuna novità all'interno del panorama letterario italiano. Il target di lettore è quello medio basso, credo che le parole più difficili siano legati all'ambiente giuridico.
Sintesi? Romanzo da passatempo.
November 13, 2015
Raffazzonato
January 29, 2024
Storia stanca e ripetitiva, un po’ come i suoi personaggi; soprattutto, una storia senza redenzione possibile (non è che debba per forza esserci il finale da e vissero tutti e felici e contenti) e senza una speranza. Al di là del tutto, buon ritmo e buona scrittura (il Samurai però ha un po’ rotto)
March 26, 2026
Ein Krimi, der einfach zu viel will und dadurch konfus wirkt. Angeblich völlig unterschiedliche Charaktere denken doch irgendwie alle gleich und lassen sich in dem Wirrwarr kaum auseinander halten. Auch eine Spannungskurve ist kaum wahrnehmbar. Immerhin sind die Beschreibungen Roms nett.
March 21, 2019
Discreto, rispetto a Suburra però, meno coinvolgente...
January 3, 2020
Sempre dei capolavori questi libri, anche se questo è meno intrigante di Suburra e di Romanzo Criminale (stupendo).
April 4, 2024
A bit too obvious, I had hoped for better but it's certainly not Dashiel Hammet
January 10, 2022
Coinvolgente, avvincente. Scrittura fluida, trama lineare, pari al libro che lo precede anche se leggermente inferiore rispetto all'altro. Consigliato.
September 21, 2016
Inquietante affresco delle forze malavitose che regolano le dinamiche politiche e sociali di Roma. I fatti, reali seppur romanzati, si svolgono tra il 12 marzo e il 24 giugno 2015, in piena gestione capitolina da parte di Ignazio Marino, rappresentato nel libro con il nome di Martin Giardino.
Intorno a lui una lunga lista di politicanti, mafiosi, criminali e picchiatori che mettono a ferro e fuoco Roma nel momento in cui il papa annuncia il Giubileo: la grande mangiatoia in cui tutti sperano di metter bocca per mangiarne quanto più possibile.
Questa è Roma oggi, questo è il contesto in cui viviamo, le persone con cui, pur non volendo, entriamo in contatto, chi alla lontana chi in maniera più vicina. E sembra proprio che non ci sia un lieto fine.
PS. sarebbe interessante dare un volto reale ai protagonisti del libro. Oltre al sindaco, chiaramente Ignazio Marino, gli altri personaggi chi rappresentano? Adriano Polimeni sembra Massimo D'Alema o Francesco Rutelli, gli altri?
Intorno a lui una lunga lista di politicanti, mafiosi, criminali e picchiatori che mettono a ferro e fuoco Roma nel momento in cui il papa annuncia il Giubileo: la grande mangiatoia in cui tutti sperano di metter bocca per mangiarne quanto più possibile.
Questa è Roma oggi, questo è il contesto in cui viviamo, le persone con cui, pur non volendo, entriamo in contatto, chi alla lontana chi in maniera più vicina. E sembra proprio che non ci sia un lieto fine.
PS. sarebbe interessante dare un volto reale ai protagonisti del libro. Oltre al sindaco, chiaramente Ignazio Marino, gli altri personaggi chi rappresentano? Adriano Polimeni sembra Massimo D'Alema o Francesco Rutelli, gli altri?
Want to Read
March 20, 2016Incipit
Il cartello recitava: «Stazione appaltante Società Roma Metropolitane. Impresa appaltatrice Mariani Costruzioni s.p.a. del Consorzio Metro C. Lavori per la realizzazione della linea C. Lotto T3. Tratta San Giovanni-Fori Imperiali»...........
La notte di Roma incipitmania.com
Il cartello recitava: «Stazione appaltante Società Roma Metropolitane. Impresa appaltatrice Mariani Costruzioni s.p.a. del Consorzio Metro C. Lavori per la realizzazione della linea C. Lotto T3. Tratta San Giovanni-Fori Imperiali»...........
La notte di Roma incipitmania.com
November 7, 2015
Praticamente sembra la
Cronaca di roma ! Bellissimo libro io lo consiglio!
Cronaca di roma ! Bellissimo libro io lo consiglio!
August 9, 2019
A political mystery set in contemporary Rome.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews