Nobody wants to sleep alone that night. Luciana and Antonella ask Davide to come down to the third floor so all three of them can sleep in the same room: in case of an earthquake, they can all run out together. The first shock occurs at 10.44 p.m.: Davide’s mother calls him from Vasto to tell him to get out of the building, but he’s tired and wants to sleep so he can be in good shape to hit the books the next day. Besides, it’s cold outside. Alessio and his girlfriend, Marianna, frightened, decide instead to leave and go to Marianna’s sister, who also lives in L’Aquila and has a house with a yard, allowing for an easy escape in case of danger. Marianna’s sister invites them to spend the night there, but Alessio has to get up early the next morning for a class. And he doesn’t feel safe at Marianna’s sister’s house. He’d rather go back to his room at the Casa dello Studente. So he leaves Marianna at her sister’s place and goes back to Via XX Settembre. It is now 1.30 a.m., 6 April. Ezio, his roommate, is still awake. The tremors keep them from sleeping. Alessio and Ezio start talking to allay their fear; they decide to sleep in their clothes, with their shoes on, to be ready to flee. The stairs are close to their room: if they feel the building start to shake they can reach the stairs quickly and get out.

At 3.32 a.m. the most powerful shock is felt: measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, it causes the north wing of the Casa dello Studente to collapse. The final tally of the earthquake will list 308 victims, including 53 university students and 20 children, 1,500 persons injured, more than 65,000 displaced, and 23,000 houses destroyed in the five provinces of Teramo, Pescara, Chieti, Ascoli Piceno and L’Aquila. At the Casa dello Studente the phones begin ringing: many of them ring and ring, unanswered, like that of Davide. The room on the third floor, where he was sleeping with Luciana and Antonella, gave way in a kind of domino effect onto the second floor, then the first, then the ground floor, before plummeting into the dining hall, in the basement. Only Antonella miraculously manages to get to safety. Luciana and Davide don’t make it.