Maurensig was born at Udine.

Before becoming a novelist, he worked in a variety of occupations, including as a restorer of antique musical instruments. His first book, La variante di Lüneburg (The Lüneburg Variation), was published after he had turned 50. His second book was Canone inverso.

Of Canone inverso, the New York Times Book Review said in 1999 that Maurensig's writing, especially the interlocking narratives, recalled German Romantic writers such as E. T. A. Hoffman, Joseph von Eichendorff, and Isak Dinesen. Reviewer Jonathan Keates said, "The mournful beauty of this sparely proportioned, soberly recounted story owes much to the sense Maurensig subtly imparts that Jeno's loneliness is a species of infection communicating itself to every other character in the book. Drawing on the artistic techniques of both the 18th and the 19th centuries, he pronounces a gloomy verdict on the various types of human alienation created by the 20th." NPR said that the book had developed a "cult following." NPR : Music - PT Summer Books