The Zanfretta UFOincident was an alleged alien encounter that occurred on December 6, 1978 near the town of Torriglia, in the province of Genoa, northern Italy, and which involved security guard Pier Fortunato Zanfretta, who claimed to have had a close encounter with an extraterrestrial being during a night patrol and to have also seen a triangular spaceship that blinded him with an extremely intense light before disappearing into the sky[1].
Following the media frenzy caused by the news spreading across the country, Zanfretta agreed to undergo a regressive hypnosis session, through which he reportedly remembered being abducted and taken aboard the extraterrestrial craft. However, the use of hypnosis was deemed invalidating by skeptics, as it has no scientific validity and tends to induce false memories in patients.
Zanfretta later claimed to have been abducted by the extraterrestrial beings 11 times between 1978 and 1981[2]. He also claimed to have received an alien artifact, but was never able to prove its existence. His story is the most documented alleged alien abduction case in Italian ufology[3].
Initial encounter
On the evening of December 6, 1978, night watchman Pier Fortunato Zanfretta – 26 years old at the time – was carrying out his usual patrol in the area of Marzano, a hamlet in the municipality of Torriglia, on the Genoese mountains. According to his version, around 11:30 p.m., he noticed four unusual lights in the garden of a mansion known as "Casa Nostra", which belonged to a local dentist. The gate and the front door were wide open. Convinced that a group of thieves were attempting to break in, he decided to intervene to prevent the theft[4].
Once inside through the backyard, he saw a red, oval object with a diameter of over 10 metres (33ft)[5]. At this point, he radioed his supervisor, who recalled him screaming. On turning around, Zanfretta reported running into beings who were 3 metres (9.8ft) tall, with mottled skin as though they were fat or wearing a rumpled suit[6]. The creatures had yellow triangular eyes, and clawed feet.
When the supervisor asked if he was being attacked by men, Zanfretta was said to have responded "No, non sono uomini,non sono uomini..."(No, they are not men), at which point communication was lost.
Zanfretta was later found unconscious and in "a state of shock" by his colleagues.
Initial investigations and media interest
The event was reported to the Carabinieri – one of the Italian police forces – at around 12 pm the following day, December 7, by the owner of the security company where Zanfretta worked[7].
An investigation followed and brigadier Antonio Nucchi collected 52 accounts of strange events between the municipalities of Torriglia and Propata. Many people reported seeing a large bright object in the sky on the night of the Zanfretta incident[8]; however, there is no evidence that the testimonies were reliable. The Carabinieri also certified that in the garden of the mansion there was a semicircular imprint of approximately 2 metres in diameter and 3 metres in length where the grass was flattened.
Meanwhile, some journalists became interested in the story. Within days, Zanfretta's incident became a case of national interest, especially after he was invited to appear on the television variety show Portobello to share his version of the events[9].
Journalist Rino Di Stefano – who first took an interest in the case and later published a book about it in several editions[10] – proposed subjecting Zanfretta to a regressive hypnosis session to better remember what he experienced on the night of December 6th. The session was conducted on December 23, 1978 by Mauro Moretti, a psychotherapist and medical hypnotist, in the presence of journalists and ufologists. While under hypnosis, Zanfretta claimed that the alien beings had abducted him, taken him to a brightly lit room in their spaceship, and subjected him to painful experiments[11]. He also added to the description of the aliens saying:
"They are green, with triangular yellow eyes, with big thorns, they have green flesh and their skin is full of wrinkles as if they were old. Their mouths look like they’re made of iron, they have red veins on their heads, pointed ears and arms with fingernails… with round things… They come from the third galaxy."
—Rino Di. Stefano, The Zanfretta Case: Chronicle of an Incredible True Story (2014)
Other encounters
On the night of December 27th, 1978, Zanfretta disappeared again after a frantic radio communication in which he announced that his car had stopped. The search for him was hampered by the fog and rain that weighed on the area that night. He was found just over an hour later near a mountain road, not to far from the Fiat 127 he was driving, in a state of deep shock. The policemen who rescued him testified that his clothes were dry and his body was particularly warm despite the rain and low temperatures. Also, what appeared to be large footprints were noticed near the site of the discovery[12].
Zanfretta explained that he had been abducted again by the same aliens and that they wanted to take him away permanently. Because of his statements, he was interviewed by a neurologist who, on January 31, 1979, issued a certificate declaring that he had not detected any alterations in his thinking or psychosensory disturbances, and that no observation period or therapeutic advice was necessary.
Following the second incident, the security company Zanfretta worked for decided to relocate him to another area of the province and replace his vehicle with a Vespa scooter. On July 30, 1979, the man disappeared for a third time and was found about 2 km (1.2 mi) away from his motorcycle, racing disoriented in the darkness[13]. A fourth similar incident occurred months later, on December 2.
In the early 1980s, due to the numerous strange events that continued to involve Zanfretta, the Genoa police commissioner revoked his gun license, which led to him losing his job as a guard.
Investigations and explanations
Skeptical researchers harshly criticized the approach to the case by ufologists and sensationalist newspapers, and pointed out that the use of regressive hypnosis to reconstruct the event – in addition to having no scientific value – had been performed without any precautions for the subject, which, as has emerged in many cases, creates the possibility of inducing suggestions and false memories[14]. Among the most critical aspects of the procedure, they reported the fact that the questions to be asked to the patient were discussed while he was already hypnotized[15]. The administration of Penthothal was also considered unreliable since scientific evidence shows that this narcotic reduces inhibitions but doesn't make confessions made under its influence reliable[16].
Although most skeptical journalists had no doubt that Zanfretta was in good faith and had no mental disorders, they concluded that the hypnosis sessions had invalidated his process of reconstructing the events[17]. It was noted that the alien's race name, Dargos, strongly resembled that of Hydargos, the antagonist of Grendizer, a very popular show in Italy in 1978. Furthermore, the description of the aliens recalls one of the monsters that appeared in Zagor, a famous Italian comic book series[18]. Hypnotist Mauro Moretti responded to these claims by stating that the subject had no familiarity with science fiction; however, this assertion was disputed because in the late 1970s there were a large number of sci-fi products appearing on television and in various types of advertising, and it was therefore unlikely that Zanfretta had no visual references in this regard[19][20].
The skeptics also demonstrated that the supposed evidence for the extraterrestrial hypothesis had logical or natural explanations, which were omitted or manipulated by those who wanted to profit from the story, such as some tabloid newspapers and ufology magazines. The strange circle of crushed grass found after the first alleged encounter corresponded to the point where the owners of the mansion used to keep their horse tied up during daylight hours, and the temperature of Zanfretta's clothes was compatible with what they would have had if he had remained in the car for a while and not outside. As for the second encounter, what were described as giant footprints were actually compatible with simple puddles. Lastly, the alleged sightings of strange objects in the sky by other people at the time of the events have never been authoritatively verified[21].
CUN, the Italian National UFO Center, declared on several occasions through its representatives that it did not consider Zanfretta's story to be reliable[22].
In popular culture
The case was the subject of the play "Loro– Storia vera del più famoso rapimento alieno in Italia" (The True Story of the Most Famous Alien Abduction in Italy).[23][24][25]
↑ "Storia vera del più famoso rapimento alieno in Italia Al "Caracol" il monologo sul caso Zanfretta". La Nazione (in Italian). February 7, 2020. p.20.
↑ "Dossier della Pretura Unificata di Genova"[Dossier of the Unified Court of Genoa](PDF). [At 12:00 on 7/12/1978, Dr. Cereda, owner of the "Val Bisagno" security company in Genoa, informed this Command that at around 12:33 am last night, Zanfretta Fortunato, in the general directory, while carrying out his usual nighttime surveillance rounds near the "Casa Nuova" villa in the Marzano area, sighted a humanoid being about three meters tall of monstrous appearance and a brightly luminous object which shortly thereafter took off vertically with a hiss, disappearing into the sky.]
↑ "Rino Di Stefano". Opera Uno (in Italian). 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
↑ Stefano, Rino Di. (December 25, 2014). The Zanfretta Case: Chronicle of an Incredible True Story. CreateSpace. ISBN9781505650099.
↑ "Lo strano caso di Fortunato Zanfretta, il multi addotto". reccom.org (in Italian). 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2025-09-17. [The "127" in which Zanfretta was traveling was found after more than an hour in a clearing on the mountain road leading to the village of Rossi. The first to see Zanfretta was Brigadier Travenzoli. He was shaking and crying. "They say they want to take me away," he said. "What will happen to my children? I don't want them, I don't want them..." Strangely, despite the rain and cold, the night watchman's face and clothes were dry. "From the nose up," Travenzoli explained, "he was very hot. His ears were bright red."]
↑ "Il caso Zanfretta: rapimenti alieni a Genova". Il caso Zanfretta: rapimenti alieni a Genova (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-17. [Following the second alleged kidnapping, the security company Zanfretta worked for decided to relocate him, assigning him to the Quarto area of Genoa, and to give him a different vehicle, a Vespa. A few months passed, and summer arrived, when on July 30, 1979, the night watchman was the victim of a third kidnapping. On that occasion, Zanfretta disappeared again. His colleagues found the scooter on the summit of Mount Fasce, behind the city of Genoa, and Zanfretta almost two kilometers away, racing in the darkness.]
↑ Ciampoli, Sonia (2015-05-20). "A che punto è la notte 8 – UFO, parte seconda". Query Online (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-16. [Assuming the protagonist's good faith (which is always an element to take into account in these situations), what is certain is that Zanfretta was a victim of his "fame" rather than of the extraterrestrial visitors.]
↑ Ciampoli, Sonia (2015-05-20). "A che punto è la notte 8 – UFO, parte seconda". Query Online (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-16. [In fact, subsequent research has shown that most of these phenomena could be explained entirely rationally and naturally, and much has been exaggerated or distorted by those who told the story: for example, after the first "abduction," the temperature of the clothes was consistent with what they would have been if Zanfretta had remained in the car for a while and not outside; the gigantic footprints are completely indistinguishable from normal puddles; the strange circle of crushed grass corresponded to the spot where the homeowners tethered the horse; the numerous accounts of other people who reportedly saw something that night have not been verified and do not refer to that specific date, etc.]
↑ "Lo strano caso di Fortunato Zanfretta, il multi addotto". reccom.org (in Italian). 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2025-09-16. [It must also be said that the CUN, the national ufological center, has repeatedly declared, through various of its members, that it considers the Zanfretta case to be invalid.]
↑ "Storia vera del più famoso rapimento alieno in Italia Al "Caracol" il monologo sul caso Zanfretta". La Nazione (in Italian). February 7, 2020. p.20.
↑ "Alieni e misteriosi rapimenti sul palco del teatro". Il Resto del Carlino (in Italian). December 8, 2015. p.21.
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