Notiziario UFO (Italy)

History

Notiziario UFO is the bulletin of the Centro Ufologico Nazionale, the principal Italian civilian UFO research body founded in Bologna in 1966. The organisation operated under its original name, Centro Unico Nazionale per lo studio dei fenomeni ritenuti di natura extraterrestre, for at least the first twelve years of its existence. The publication's pre-1978 issues carry the Bologna registration line "Autorizzazione del Tribunale di Bologna N.4069 del 27 aprile 1970", the documentary anchor for the bulletin's earliest legally-registered period. The organisation was renamed Centro Ufologico Nazionale and relocated its principal editorial operation to Milan by the November 1978 mass-circulation launch under Roberto Pinotti.

1970 to 1974: The Bologna-Era Internal Bulletin

The earliest issue in the archive is No 37 of January-February 1971, an organo ufficiale bimestrale (official bi-monthly organ) of the then-Centro Unico Nazionale. The continuous issue numbering across the period that follows, No 44 of March-April 1972 and No 61 of January-March 1974, confirms the bulletin ran on a roughly bi-monthly cadence from approximately 1968 onwards. Subtitled in English "Italy's International UFO News" and described as a "rassegna documentaria a carattere tecnico per lo studio e l'analisi scientifica del problema degli oggetti volanti non identificati", the bulletin's pre-Pinotti editorial position was technical and documentary rather than mass-market.

The January-March 1974 issue No 61 carried as its lead story "Il Concorde incrociato in volo da un UFO" (The Concorde encountered in flight by a UFO), describing an incident over Tchad (Chad) reported in Rivista Aeronautica at 17,000 metres altitude. The technical-documentary character of the bulletin's coverage in this period is consistent with the Centro Unico Nazionale's positioning as a scientific-research body rather than a public-engagement organisation.

November 1978: The Newsstand Launch under Pinotti

In November 1978, CUN, now operating as Centro Ufologico Nazionale from Via Vignola 3, 20136 Milan, launched Notiziario UFO as a mass-circulation newsstand magazine. Roberto Pinotti served as editor (Direttore Responsabile), with a redaction team comprising Giancarlo Barattini, Claudio Gallo, Mario Pagni, and Pier Luigi Sani. Oria Maria Pia Grossi handled the secretariat. Graphics came from Biagio Cristaldi, Patrizia De Luca, and Marcellino Orru, with layout by Carlo Zazzaretta.

Pinotti's inaugural editorial set the magazine's position explicitly. He acknowledged that UFO interest in Italy had been exploited by sensationalist media and entangled with the occult, and declared that Notiziario UFO would "shoot at zero" against inaccuracy, fraud, superficiality, and incompetence. The magazine would strip the UFO question of its mythical fringe and present only verified, documented facts according to scientific and logical criteria. CUN claimed ongoing contact and collaboration with Italian defence authorities, a relationship Pinotti cited as evidence of the organisation's seriousness.

The archive holds four issues from the Pinotti-era newsstand magazine: a standalone Notiziario from January-March 1978 (No 77, the pre-launch numbering carrying through), and three issues of the launched public magazine (November 1978, December 1978, January 1979). The January 1979 issue was designated Volume 2, Number 1, indicating a new annual volume cycle. Hynek's visit to Italy was documented in the magazine's pages with the headline "Il Prof. Hynek in Italia!" The Blue Book consultant's engagement with Italian researchers reflected CUN's strategy of international scientific legitimation.

May 1995: Number Zero and the Documentary Restart

The May 1995 issue, designated Number 0, carries Pier Luigi Sani's article "I termini di un problema scottante" (The terms of a burning problem) alongside a photograph of Sani with J. Allen Hynek and Mimi Hynek taken in Florence in 1978. The Number 0 designation suggests an editorial restart or commemorative issue, with the documentary photograph anchoring the 1995 issue back to the 1978 Hynek visit that the Pinotti-era newsstand launch had built around. Sani's continued presence on the masthead across the seventeen-year gap from the 1978 founding redaction team to the 1995 issue is a documentary anchor for CUN's institutional continuity.