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THE ZANFRETTA CASE
Chronicle of an Incredible True Story
First International English Edition
(2014)
After so many requests from all over the world, we finally get it. By Christmas 2014 the first international English edition of "THE ZANFRETTA CASE – Chronicle of an Incredible True Story: The Most Popular European UFO Case in the World" is available from Amazon.com and other online stores. The book about the most amazing and documented UFO abduction of our time, will be on sale in Print and Kindle editions. In the book, there are all the original texts of the hypnosis sessions made by Pier Fortunato Zanfretta, photos and documents. A complete report about one of the more actual and astonishing cases in UFO history.
My book, entitled
"The Zanfretta Case", is a long and detailed report about what happened
to the private security guard Piero Fortunato Zanfretta in the period from 1978
to 1980. At that time Zanfretta was 26 years old. I am not a ufologist and I
wasn't myself involved in the story that I am about to tell you. I would like
to make it clear that I will be referring to personal notes and articles written
during that period. I followed the Zanfretta Case as a reporter and it's in
this capacity that I tell you now what I know about it. Let me just say that
learning about, and then investigating what occurred to Zanfretta, was one of
the most amazing experiences of my life both from a personal as well as a professional
point of view. At the time of this case, I was working for the local Genoa daily
paper "Il Corriere Mercantile." Shortly after midnight on December
6, 1978, Zanfretta was on duty in Torriglia, a village near Genoa. It was
a dark and moonless night. It was also very cold and snow had fallen during
the day so that there was a dangerous film of ice on the roads. As Zanfretta
approached a client's uninhabited country-house (called "Our Home"
by the owner, Dr. Ettore Righi), in the area of Marzano, his patrol car, a Fiat
126, mysteriously stopped dead. The car engine, lights and radio all failed
seemingly for no reason. At the same moment he saw four strange lights moving
about in the garden of the house and stepped outside of his car to investigate
with gun and flashlight in hand. At first he thought that burglars were behind
the house. So he walked through the open gate and crept along a wall in an attempt
to surprise them. But Zanfretta had underestimated the problem and ended being
the one who was surprised by what he had taken for thieves. Feeling himself
touched from behind, the security guard whirled around and saw something that
filled him with terror: only inches away stood what he called: "An enormous
green, ugly and frightful creature, with undulating skin, no less than ten feet
tall". When he directed the beam of his flashlight on the being's face,
he was so frightened that he dropped it, but quickly it up again and run away.
While running, he became aware of a large and very bright light behind him.
Turning around, he saw a huge, flat triangular form which was blinding in its
brilliance. Zanfretta shielded himself from the light with his arm. This thing
which he assured was a flying saucer, ascended from the back of the house. It
was bigger than the house itself, and produced a hissing sound. Later, Zanfretta
said that he felt an intense heat. He made it back to his car and tried to call
his security company's operations center in Genoa. It was 12:15 A.M. Carlo Toccalino,
the radio operator, has testified that Zanfretta was speaking in an excited
and disconnected way. He kept saying: "My God, are they ugly!". The
operator then asked if "they" were human and if they were assaulting
him. The answer was: "No, they aren't men, they aren't men". At that
point, the communication were abruptly broken 
off and Toccalino
called the chief of the security service, Lt. Giovanni Cassiba. An hour later,
a couple of other patrol guards, Walter Lauria and Raimondo Mascia, found Zanfretta
in front of the country-house, lying on the ground. It was 1:15 A.M.. When he
saw them, he jumped up, gun and flashlight at the ready. Eyes bulging, Zanfretta
didn't seem to recognize them, nor to understand when they told him to lower
his weapon. The other patrolmen rushed and disarmed him. To their surprise,
his clothes felt warm even though the December night air was quite cold. They
also noticed that the gate was closed as usual. The Carabineers, the Italian
military police, began an investigation on what happened that night and one
of the first thing they discovered were clear imprint that some large and heavy
object had left on the ground in back of the country-house. There were two of
them in the frost covered grass, 9 feet in diameter and shaped like horseshoes.
Antonio Nucchi, the commandant of the Torriglia station, has stated that he
was every confidence in the testimony given by Zanfretta. In fact, he has known
the security guard for many years and, when I asked him what he thought about
him, he answered: "I can state with certainty that he is a clear thinking
man with no strange fantasies in his head. When we went to investigate the scene
the next day, he almost didn't want to come, he was so scared. Only something
exceptional could have frightened him so." During the investigation Nucchi
discovered that 52 residents of nearby Torriglia saw a bright glare in the direction
of the country-house at the same time Zanfretta reported seeing it ascending.
When the strange story of Zanfretta was published in the local newspapers, the
articles were all tinged with amused curiosity and skepticism. Most journalists
didn't want to examine the incident too closely because it involved a UFO.But
nobody has been able to give any explanations to three fundamental phenomena:
1) Zanfretta's inexplicable panic and confusion; 2) the two 9 foot circular
impressions in the grass behind the country-house; 3) the sighting by the 52
people in Torriglia.The prevalent opinion about Zanfretta just after the incident
was: "Since he says that he saw a flying saucer and a monstrous extraterrestrial
being, he must be crazy." Many people thought that the Carabineers were
wasting their time. As for myself I asked is it possible that a security guard
who was the father of two children and had a reputation for honesty could have
invented a story like this, and thus knowingly put himself at the risk of being
dismissed from his job? And is it also possible that it was mere luck that 52
people were able to provide an indirect confirmation of his story? My answer
was "no" to both questions and that's why I decided to investigate
Zanfretta's story further. 
Gianfranco Tutti, the director of
the Institute of Vigilance Val Bisagno, the security company that Zanfretta
worked for, was worried about the possible negative publicity. But he believes
that the guard was an honest man. When I met Zanfretta, I got the impression
that he was shy and he felt uneasy. "People call me on the phone at all
hours just to play jokes on me", he said, "I don't know what it was
that I saw, but I saw it. I am not a liar". In another attempt to uncover
the actual events of that night, according to the Institute Val Bisagno, Zanfretta
agreed to be hypnotized by Dr. Mauro Moretti, a psychotherapist and member of
the Italian Association of Medical Hypnosis, in Genoa on December 23. I was
present on that occasion and noted that what he had to say was really astonishing.
In fact, Zanfretta said that he was abducted by "monsters about 10 feet
tall, with hairy green skin, yellow triangular eyes and red veins across the
forehead" who brought him to a hot, luminous place where they interrogated
and examined him. During the same session, Zanfretta also indicated that the
creatures came from the "third galaxy" and that "they want to
talk with us and that they will soon return in larger numbers." The aliens
did not speak Italian to the guard, but used a "luminous device" to
translate what they were saying. What Zanfretta was stating under hypnosis was
too unbelievable, so I preferred not to write anything down at that time. But
then something else happened. Three nights later, on December 26, the guard
disappeared again. At 11:45 PM on that night, Zanfretta was at work as usual,
driving a Fiat 127 inside the Bargagli tunnel, near the Scoffera Pass. Suddenly
he lost control of the car. On the radio, he reported that the Fiat turned on
its own and came out of the tunnel. Terrified, Zanfretta tried to work the brakes
and steering wheel, but the car continued on its own along the steep road uphill.
Speaking with the radio operator, the guard said that he was having difficulty
with the patrol car, and couldn't see well because of the very thick fog. After
going for about a mile, the car finally come to an abrupt stop, throwing Zanfretta's
head against the steering wheel. He called the radio operator and this time,
in a very controlled voice, said: "The car has stopped. I saw a bright
light. Now I am getting out." Zanfretta and his car were found at 1:10
AM by other guards. The first to see Zanfretta was sergeant Emanuele Travenzoli.
Zanfretta was in a field near the road. His clothes were warm and dry, and so
was his head, despite the rain. The man was very scared, he was shaking and
crying. "They say I must leave with them. What about my children? I don't
want to, I don't want to…". Again the Carabineers were called. During
their investigation they found that, though the car had been in the cold and
rain for a long time, the roof of the Fiat was as hot as if it had spent an
entire day in the sun. The interior of the car was also said to be as hot as
an oven. All around the car were disproportionately large footprints. As measured
by the Carabineers, the tracks proved were 20 inches long by 8 inches wide,
with a distinct empty spot between sole and heel. In addition, the Carabineers
found that Zanfretta's gun, a Smith & Wesson 38 Special, had been fired
five times. But the
guard couldn't recall at whom he had fired the weapon. All this data has been
enclosed in the "Report on the Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects
by Fortunato Zanfretta" sent by commandant Nucchi on January 3, 1979 to
the magistratès court in Genoa in an inquiry for what action should be taken.
The report ended up on the table of Luciano Di Noto, a substitute attorney of
the Italian Republic, who passed it on to Investigating Magistrate, Gian Rodolfo
Sciaccaluga. Finally, Nucchi's report was delivered to Magistrate Russo who,
one year later, on January 11, 1980, he certified that it could be filled away
whit this declaration: "No crime committed". In addition, the Carabineers'
Command had informed the Italian Department of Interior and other military commands
of the incident by two telexes sent respectively on December 8, and December
28, 1978. The Carabineers defined the degree of reliability that the eventsactually
occurred as "good". One must also point out that in December 1978,
there were so many UFO sighting all over Italy that Falco Accame, at that time
a Socialist member of the Italian Parliament, asked both Italy's Premier, Giulio
Andreotti, and Minister of Defense, Attilio Ruffini, to inform the Italian Congress
about their opinion concerning the nature of these recent UFO sighting in Italy.
Getting back to Zanfretta, this second "encounter" had aroused much
publicity. Once again, in an attempt to get at the facts, a second hypnotic
regression was arranged with Dr. Moretti. But this time the regression was recorded
and broadcast by a local TV station, TVS, and hundreds of thousands of people
watched it. And this time, of course, I had to write an article. In a few days,
Zanfretta became a popular personality. But many people who didn't believe in
UFO stories, were going around saying that his mental health was probably not
very good. Zanfretta had problems even at work. "If I could have, I wouldn't
have reported my experiences, now that I see the consequences", he said.
In an attempt to end any further disturbing discussions of the incidents, the
Institute Val Bisagno asked Dr. Giorgio Gianniotti, a prominent neurologist
at San Martino Hospital in Genoa, to examine Zanfretta. "The man is in
a state of shock", Dr. Gianniotti diagnosed, "but he is perfectly
sane". Dr. Gianniotti's diagnosis made the guard seem much more credible
in the eyes of public opinion. But the Zanfretta story was now reaching audiences
outside of Genoa. Enzo Tortora, in those years a very popular Italian TV personality,
invited the guard on his national TV program "Portobello." Zanfretta
was also examined while on camera by Dr. Cesare Musatti, a famous psychoanalyst
called "the father of the Italian psychoanalysis". On that occasion,
Musatti said that Zanfretta spoke in good faith even if it was hard to differentiate
objective facts from subjective experiences. At the same time, articles about
the guard began to appear in newspapers and magazines all over the world. He
now became known as the man who was abducted by a UFO. For some months nothing
strange happened to Zanfretta. I kept thinking that his story must have a logical
explanation. What reason, if the UFO was real, did it have for abducting that
man twice? What kind of role did 
Zanfretta
play? I didn't have any answers. And I was still questioning myself like this,
when Zanfretta was abducted a third time. It was on the night of July 30,
1979. The guard was on duty, this time on a motorcycle, in the residential area
of Quarto in Genoa and not in the hills nearby Torriglia. But he disappeared
again as before and some other guards found him after two hours on the top of
Mount Fasce, also near Genoa. There is only one road up to that hill and it
was patrolled by security guards working for the same company as Zanfretta.
They said that Zanfretta had not been seen on that small road. But there he
was at the top of the hill. How did he get up there? The only way to find out
more was trough hypnosis. But this time Zanfretta was taken to the International
Center of Medical and Psychological Hypnosis in Milan where, on his own request,
he was injected with a truth serum by Prof. Marco Marchesan. Zanfretta confirmed
everything he has said before and he explained that the last time "he was
lifted from the ground into to the alien spaceship by a mysterious green light".
Professor Marchesan declared: "No human being can knowingly lie while he
is under Pentothal treatment, so I think it's very probable Zanfretta had these
encounters". But Zanfretta's adventure was not an end, yet. Perhaps the
most exciting of his strange encounters occurred a few months later. At 10:30
PM on Sunday, December 2, 1979 Zanfretta disappeared for the fourth time while
driving an Austin Mini in the suburbs of Genoa. While looking for him, four
patrol guards clearly saw a very large UFO in the sky. It was over the hills
above Genoa. Suddenly from out of a large cloud above the guards, two lights
came on and shown down directly on the four men. The engines of their cars stopped
dead and they got out of their vehicles, terrified. Only one of them, Lt. Cassiba,
reacted and fired his gun at the UFO. The lights turned off and the cloud moved
away. One of those guards was so shocked that he never completely recovered
his mental stability. A few months later he killed himself with a bullet in
the head. His name was Germano Zanardi, so the Zanfretta case has also a victim.
In yet another hypnotic regression, made on Monday, December 3, induced by Dr.
Moretti, Zanfretta said many interesting things. This account begins around
9:30 PM. The guard was in a self-service gasoline station on a highway near
downtown Genoa. Zanfretta heard someone calling him from a shadow and he walked
towards the voice. He said that he was helpless to resist that voice. And when
the owner of that voice ordered him to drive into a small cloud, he obeyed.
Then, and this is the most incredible part, he was 
whisked
off in the cloud to a large spaceship. Zanfretta described the man who gave
him the orders as being a bit taller than himself, with a bald egg-shaped head
and dressed in a checkered suit that included something made of steel in place
of a shirt. Walking around with the giant aliens in that huge craft, the guard
said he saw transparent cylinders filled with a strange blue liquid. One contained
a frog-shaped body that the aliens called "an enemy of ours from another
planet". In two more were preserved a big bird and another human looking
body that Zanfretta described as looking like a caveman. As you can see, all
this sounds very imaginary. But something else occurred during that hypnotic
regression which was quite astonishing. At a certain point, Zanfretta uttered
these words: "Where have you been? And what do you want to do in Spain?
Why? But all together? That will scare people!". The next day on the morning
of Tuesday, December 4, the international service of the Italian press agency
ANSA carried a news-item about a Spanish dentist, Dr. Alfredo Sanchez Cuesta
who, on the Saturday night just pass, was driving in Guadalaiara, about nine
miles from Madrid, when he saw a very brilliant UFO which followed his car for
about an hour. The UFO was at fifty feet above the car and Dr. Cuesta, terrified
and blinded by the UFO, lost control of his car and went off the road. Was this
a coincidence? And why, if Zanfretta's story recounted under hypnosis is imaginary,
did the guard mention Spain? And what about the coincidence in the dates? Zanfretta
said he was abducted by aliens on Sunday night and gave his account under hypnosis
on Monday evening. Dr. Cuesta's adventure occurred on Saturday night. Before
Tuesday no one in Italy knew about Dr. Cuesta, and it was only on Wednesday
that the Italian public was finally informed. I'll let you make what you will
of these facts.Time went by and left many more questions without answers. First
of all, why all these abductions? What reason did all those discussions between
the guard and the aliens have? Perhaps an explanation may be found in an object
that the mysterious beings wanted to give to the man. It was a transparent sphere
with a pyramid inside. Something like jumping sparks were discharged from the
pyramid's vertices toward the inside. With that sphere, the aliens said, it
was possible to understand who they were and how they live. Under hypnosis,
Zanfretta said that he didn't want to take the object: he had had enough of
all these strange encounters and wished only go back to his normal life. But
they insisted, and told him that he was to give the sphere to a man of whom
name he had never heard before: Dr. J. Allen Hynek Don't ask me what kind of
relation there was between the Zanfretta's aliens and Dr.Hynek, because I really
don't know. 
Anyway, you maybe surprised that wève still not finished yet! Zanfretta
disappeared again on February14, 1980. But this time his car was in constant
radio contact with headquarters and he was reached in a short period of time
up in the hills. That chilly night I participated in the rescue operation. When
he was found by his colleagues, the guard was freezing and in a state of shock.
A villager living nearby said that a few minutes before the rescuers arrived,
he saw a huge brilliant mass in the sky shaped like a football balloon. During
the next hypnosis
session, doctor Moretti faced a new problem. Zanfretta, suddenly, started to
speak a strange and unknown language. He was uttering words like these: "Ei
chi snaua…si naila…isne ghe…il se lai…go ghe ti snau exi ghe…sci nis
che ixi kai snoue…chisnauag the…aiex piscinau kep na…tei sdei…".Moretti
was not able to control the hypnotic regression. Zanfretta continued on his
own and he said that he was contacting the aliens. His voice changed and in
a very guttural way he said: "You can't work out anything in a case like
this. To believe or not to believe doesn't mean anything: each thing in its
own time".Zanfretta's last disappearance was on August 13, 1980. But this
time, Zanfretta wasunder close observation 24 hours a day and he was reached before he made contact
with the aliens.The last hypnotic regression was illuminating. The guard was
absolutely out of control and didn't answer any questions at all. "What
is happening here is scientifically inexplicable to me", said Dr. Moretti.
Under interrogation, Zanfretta kept saying: "Question with negative answer,
tixel", and it was useless going on. Fifteen years have passed now since
Zanfretta's last encounter with the aliens. He has
not been abducted any more
and very few UFO are seen now in the Italian sky. Zanfretta, who recalls only
a few things of his extraordinary experiences, says that somewhere in the hills
near Genoa he is hiding the sphere given to him by the aliens. And he waits.
I have no idea for whom or for what. Maybe he thinks they will be back. To my
opinion, he has been mentally shocked by the same experiences. Many times I
have asked myself if that sphere is real or just imaginary. I don't know. Perhaps
the Zanfretta affair is not finished, yet. Perhaps we lost an occasion to learn
something more about UFOs. My book has been published on 1984. The same year Rai Tv, the Italian state national broadcasting
network, made a two instalments fiction based on the book. Anyhow in 1991 I
presented my book at the First International UFO Congress in Tucson, Arizona,
and in that occasion I have been contacted by a couple of Ufologist who told
me they were very interested in the Zanfretta Case. As a matter of fact, few
months later they came to Genoa and stay two weeks with me. They believed to
the story of the alien sphere owned by Zanfretta and they wanted to keep it
for a mysterious company. They also told me that wished to make a Hollywood
movie about the Zanfretta Case and I have to sign a contract with them. I refused
it because by that contract, that a lawyer from Chicago sent me, I was the majority
shareholder of the joint-venture with 50% and the other two the minority shareholders
with 25% each, but all management and operation were in their hands. So I was
supposed to be responsible for what they decided without my permission. After
this event I lost any contact with them and with Zanfretta. I understand he
was very disappointed for the failure of the America business. Perhaps he was
already dreaming Hollywood. Anyhow he got trouble with the Italian justice and
left his job as security guard. Now an Italian company is planning to make a
movie about his adventures with the aliens.
© ALL REPRODUCTION RIGHTS RESERVED – Websites, blogs, social media, newspapers, magazines, tv or radio broadcasts, wishing to use the contents of this article for public distribution, MUST MENTION THE RINODISTEFANO.COM WEBSITE AS SOURCE.
(Pictures about the Zanfretta case were taken by photoreporter Luciano Zeggio)
The Zanfretta Case has been reviewed by Philip Mantle (editor of UFO Today) on The Ufologist Magazine and UFO Today.
Book Details (Print Edition):
Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication Date: December 25, 2014
Language: English
Edition: 1st
ISBN-10: 1505650097
ISBN-13: 9781505650099
List Price: $19.99 USD
Book Details (Digital Edition):
Format: Kindle
File Size: 4040 KB
Publisher: Rino Di Stefano
Publication Date: December 25, 2014
Language: English
Edition: 1st
ASIN: B00R9TTCPO
ISBN-10: 8890965061
ISBN-13: 9788890965067
List Price: $9.99 USD
GPS Coordinates of the Zanfretta Case Main PlacesFirst encounter (Villa ‘Casa Nostra’ (Our House), in Marzano of Torriglia): Second encounter (on the way to the village of Rossi): Third encounter (Mount Fasce): Fourth encounter (Shoot-out against UFOs): Fifth encounter (Path to the alleged alien sphere – village of Rossi): Sixth encounter (on the Provincial Road 82 in S.Alberto of Bargagli): UFO Sighting at ‘Quota Mille’ (Altitude One Thousand): |
Italian Editions:
- 1st Edition: Lights in the Night - UFO: The Zanfretta Case (published as Luci nella notte - UFO: il caso Zanfretta), Alkaest Publisher, 1984, 197 pages (Paperback), ₤16,000 ITL
- 2nd Edition: The Zanfretta Case (published as Il caso Zanfretta), De Ferrari Publisher, 1997, 197 pages (Paperback), ISBN: 8871721551 (ISBN-13: 9788871721552), ₤20,000 ITL
- 3rd Edition: The Zanfretta Case - Chronicle of an Incredible True Story (published as Il caso Zanfretta - La vera storia di un incredibile fatto di cronaca), De Ferrari Publisher, 2006, 288 pages (Paperback), ISBN: 8871728165 (ISBN-13: 9788871728162), €14.00
- 4th Edition: The Zanfretta Case - Chronicle of an Incredible True Story (published as Il caso Zanfretta - La vera storia di un incredibile fatto di cronaca), De Ferrari Publisher, 2008, 304 pages (Paperback), ISBN: 9788864050010 (ISBN-10: 8864050019), €14.00
- 5th Edition: The Zanfretta Case - Chronicle of an Incredible True Story (published as Il caso Zanfretta - La vera storia di un incredibile fatto di cronaca), De Ferrari Publisher, 2012, 312 pages (Paperback), ISBN: 9788864053523 (ISBN-10: 8864053522), €14.00
- 6th Edition: The Zanfretta Case - Chronicle of an Incredible True Story (published as Il caso Zanfretta - La vera storia di un incredibile fatto di cronaca), Printed by CreateSpace (Amazon), 2014, 312 pages (Paperback), ISBN: 9781508650010 (ISBN-10: 1508650012), €15.50
Press Review
Date: Mon, Oct 25, 2004, 4:05pm GMT+01:00
STORIES/ZANFRETTA, THE NIGHT WATCHMAN
WHO SAW
A UFO
(ANSA) - Genoa, September 21 - The history of UFO sightings
in Liguria and Genoa immediately calls to mind the name of Pier Fortunato
Zanfretta, the night watchman that in the evening of December 6, 1978 claimed
to have had a close encounter with alien beings. Zanfretta, a sworn guard
at the private security institute, 'Valbisagno', was found in a state
of shock near to the 'Casa nostra' villa of Marzano di Torriglia, in a
small village in the Genovese highlands. So far as investigators have
been able to glean, it was about 11.30pm when Zanfretta turned off state
highway 45 and headed for Marzano. The night watchman drove up the narrow
road that leads to the centre of the village, and from there, continued
towards the 'Casa Nostra' villa. "It was already fifteen minutes past
midnight - recalls the operator at the security institute who was on reception
duty that evening - when the first call arrived. Zanfretta was shouting
and continued to say 'it looks horrible!'. So I asked him if he was being
attacked and he replied: 'No, they are not human, they are not human…'
At that point the line went dead." Zanfretta later spoke of a large triangular
light that rose up from behind the house. The watchman described it as
a very bright saucer, that was longer than the villa itself. When he came
to, Zanfretta said he had seen 'a huge being, 3 metres tall, with rippling
skin, as though he were very fat or dressed in a loose, grey tunic'.
The being immediately moved away 'in a gigantic triangular shaped light,
with coloured lights flashing overhead.' The case caused a major scandal
and became even more notorious after Enzo Tortora invited Zanfretta to
participate in the famous 'Portobello' transmission. The affair also had
serious behind-the-scenes consequences: the caribinieri of Torriglia,
under Marshal Anotonio Nucchi, found 52 eyewitnesses and a large horse
shaped imprint at the point in which Zanfretta was found. To this day
the Zanfretta case remains one of the most curious and fascinating Italian
'x-files'. (ANSA). RED/SAF
25/10/2004 16:05
© ANSA
Related Videos:
- «YOU ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS» - The Pier Fortunato Zanfretta's hypnosis video (1979) [ITA subtited ENG]
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