Rai Way executive Silvano Loia dies in drowning off the Viterbo coast

Search operation off the Tarquinia coast

On Saturday, 29 August 2026, 52-year-old Rai Way manager Silvano Loia disappeared while swimming in the sea along the Viterbo coastline in central Italy. Loia had travelled to the coastal area to spend a period of relaxation in the company of friends. The group gathered at the beach in the locality of Sant'Agostino, which lies within the municipal territory of Tarquinia. Loia entered the water to take a swim, but his friends lost track of him when he failed to return to the beach. Around 11:00, his companions alerted the emergency services to initiate an immediate rescue mission. The search effort covered the maritime stretch between the towns of Tarquinia and Montalto di Castro. The regional fire service deployed both a watercraft and a jet ski to patrol the waters, while the port authority sent a coast guard patrol vessel. A rescue helicopter also flew over the coastline to conduct aerial searches across the area.

Recovery at Montalto di Castro

The search operation continued throughout the afternoon across the coastal waters of the Viterbo province. Around 19:00 on Saturday evening, emergency responders located the lifeless body of the 52-year-old manager in the sea. The body was discovered floating just a few metres from the shore at Montalto Marina, situated within the municipality of Montalto di Castro. Medical responders and authorities recovered the body from the water and confirmed the drowning. Preliminary investigative hypotheses suggest that Loia suffered a sudden, fatal medical episode while swimming in the sea, which prevented him from returning to safety on the beach.

Career at Rai Way and relationship with Francesca Neri

Loia worked as an executive at Rai Way, a joint-stock company operating within the Italian state broadcasting group Rai. In this professional role, he contributed to an entity that owns the national television and radio signal transmission network, handling its ongoing operation and technical maintenance across Italy. Loia was also known publicly as the partner of Italian actress Francesca Neri. The earliest photographs documenting the relationship between Loia and Neri date back two years, when the couple was observed together in Florence. Prior to her relationship with Loia, Neri had been married to Italian actor Claudio Amendola, with the couple announcing their separation in October 2022.

Consecutive maritime fatalities on the Viterbo coast

The fatal drowning of Loia occurred on the same day as another maritime tragedy on the same coastal section of Montalto Marina. Only hours before Loia's body was discovered, emergency personnel responded to an incident involving 55-year-old Laura Valentini, a woman residing in Viterbo. Valentini encountered severe difficulties while in the water off the Montalto Marina shoreline and required immediate rescue intervention. First responders pulled Valentini from the water and initiated resuscitation manoeuvres on the coast. Despite the medical resuscitation attempts by emergency responders, Valentini could not be revived and was pronounced dead at the scene.