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The Rosa Lotti Case (Italy; 1954)

Justin_Anstey

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
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I love ... the drawings by the eyewitnesses themselves. Is it art? illustration? At what point does artistic licence interfere with objective description? They form part of their testimony yet could be regarded as a kind of visionary art that nobody else could produce without lying. ...

The pictures produced by third party and often skilled illustrators are fascinating too. You can never be sure just how closely they had worked to the original description given by the experiencer. ...

forteantimes.com/gallery/spacedwarves.shtml
Link is dead. The MIA webpage can be accessed at the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20020409090617/Http://www.forteantimes.com/gallery/spacedwarves.shtml




Here's the text and the illustration from the MIA webpage:

ufos.gif

1 November 1954. Walking in the woods at Poggio d'Ambra (Bucine) Italy, housewife Rosa Lotti encounters little men who grab her flowers and a stocking.
La Domenica del Corriere, 14 Nov 1954. Illus: Walter Molino.

spacedwarves.jpg
 
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I am not aware of the use of 'little blue men' during the Western European wave of Fall 1954 (I prefer to call it this way than French, as other countries were involved, notably Belgium and Italy). ...

Most entities in the wave of Fall 1954 were human-like dwarfs, often in 'diver's suits'. Sometimes, like in the famous Rosa Lotti case, it was a pilot's suit. There were some examples of hairy dwarves, less agressive than their Venezuelian colleagues from one month later. And too completely human beings; rarely, they were seen in association with other entities. Curiously, in two instances, Quarouble and Chabeuil, the beings were described as dwarfs under a diver's suit, but with no arms visible.
 
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Perhaps this doesn't belong here, but have you discussed the Rosa Lotti case in Italy in 1954?
She witnessed a landed UFO and two strange occupants, and reported this experience to local police:

https://www.ufoinsight.com/aliens/encounters/ufo-landing-encounter-of-rosa-lotti

"The incident was investigated and documented at the time, and subject to several reinvestigations in the years that followed. What’s more, it is a case with several corroborating witnesses whose respective accounts match each other in terms of location and the object witnessed. And these witnesses appear to be largely very credible, despite the seemingly outlandish details of the incident.

What is perhaps also of interest is that the incident happened during one of the busiest years in UFO history and what is referred to in UFO circles as the 1954 Wave. This surge of sightings saw reports of strange objects overhead and even strange creatures from all over the planet, with Italy seeing more than its fair share of increased sightings.

The encounter of Rosa Lotti remains an important one in UFO history, and certainly one of the most intriguing."

1655580600448.png
 
What an utterly-fascinating incident; and this statement must be hugely significant:

Several others also heard her tell the tale, and as Steiger highlights, all would state that she was “absolutely free of any sort of foolish fancifulness or empty reveries”. In short, she was a credible witness whose account should be treated seriously.

The other incidents listed further down the main link reference are almost as astounding, perhaps especially because of the massive difference between each of the individual reports, in terms of appearance.

This aspect has bugged me since the 1960s, when I read my first reports of UFO phenomena (and I'm sure it's been identified before as a valid counter to any quasi-conventional 'alien visitor' interpretation for these experiences). There is always far too much sequential variety of differing shapes/types/colours/actions/everything (I mean both in terms of apparent technologies and reported occupants) for this phenomena to indicate anything even approximating to a single source of alien visitors).

https://www.ufoinsight.com/aliens/encounters/ufo-landing-encounter-of-rosa-lotti

This is why as I grow older, I do seriously think that some form of inter-dimensional, extratemporal, or parallel realities effect is going on, rather than simply (sic) linear sets of visitors from outer space....counterintuitively, this seems to me to be less-unlikely than hundreds (or thousands?) of different single-instance alien species serially & separately visiting us.

And I suppose I should also not evade the ineluctable possibility that the farm we are on (which Fort himself considered might literally be so) in itself may not actually exist the way it so patently appears (to us) to be. If we are all just flesh avatars, sub-atomic sims, acting out scenarios and circumstances that satiate and entertain some uber-god unseen shell above us: then the perplexing differentials between UFO and other inexplicable phenomena becomes subjugate to a multi-planar production set that quite literally is beyond our synthesised conceptions.
 
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This is why as I grow older, I do seriously think that some form of inter-dimensional, extratemporal, or parallel realities effect is going on, rather than simply (sic) linear sets of visitors from outer space....counterintuitively, this seems to me to be less-unlikely than hundreds (or thousands?) of different single-instance alien species serially & separately visiting us.

And I suppose I should also not evade the ineluctable possibility that the farm we are on (which Fort himself considered might literally be so) in itself may not actually exist the way it so patently appears (to us) to be. If we are all just flesh avatars, sub-atomic sims, acting out scenarios and circumstances that satiate and entertain some uber-god unseen shell above us: then the perplexing differentials between UFO and other inexplicable phenomena becomes subjugate to a multi-planar production set that quite literally is beyond our synthesised conceptions.

You make a good point. However, let me offer this alternative for your consideration:

What if the variety of apparent vehicles and their occupants are actually just different drones and/or lures used by a smaller sample of true nonhuman beings?

"Hey Droopvig, let's go humaning next orbital period. I'll bring my Mark VII Greys in Roswell Saucers, and you bring your Mark XIII Humanoid Dwarfs in Flying Spindles."
 
Putting my believer hat on for a bit (something I rarely do these days); I think that the sheer variety of the unexplained cases could point towards a highly complex advanced civilisation which uses a different adhoc method each time they come to our planet. A citizen of an advanced civilisation could change its appearance every day, or even every hour; similarly it could employ different types of craft and wildly different technologies and strategies in every encounter.

This is the future I anticipate for humanity, as well; using smart matter and vast amounts of easily available computing power, future humans could adopt any type of body they desire, and adopt any kind of lifestyle they wish, including sets of behaviours that might seem bizarre to us today. A citizen of a sufficiently advanced civilisation would only need to imagine something, and it would become reality, assuming it was within the (presumably large) limits of their technology. This would explain the wide variety of entities that are seen in various close encounters, without resorting to the 'interdimensional' explanation, which seems very unlikely and unnecessary to me for several reasons.
 
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Putting my believer hat on for a bit (something I rarely do these days); I think that the sheer variety of the unexplained cases could point towards a highly complex advanced civilisation which uses a different adhoc method each time they come to our planet. A citizen of an advanced civilisation could change its appearance every day, or even every hour; similarly it could employ different types of craft and wildly different technologies and strategies in every encounter.

This is the future I anticipate for humanity, as well; using smart matter and vast amounts of easily available computing power, future humans could adopt any type of body they desire, and adopt any kind of lifestyle they wish, including sets of behaviours that might seem bizarre to us. today. A citizen of a sufficiently advanced civilisation would only need to imagine something, and it would become reality, assuming it was within the (presumably lage) limits of their technology. This would explain the wide variety of entities that are seen in various close encounters, without resorting to the 'interdimensional' explanation, which seems very unlikely and unnecessary to me for several reasons.
i'm speechless from your response eburacum :clap:
BUT I can see me if I was them coming down looking like a 6'5 blonde long haired hunk but why would I want to turn up on our planet as a 4 foot wrinkly dwarf and looking like Ausso One ( no offence ) with tight permed hair and no neck or the one from the Voronezh UFO incident tall big body with little head.
 
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Putting my believer hat on for a bit (something I rarely do these days); I think that the sheer variety of the unexplained cases could point towards a highly complex advanced civilisation which uses a different adhoc method each time they come to our planet. A citizen of an advanced civilisation could change its appearance every day, or even every hour; similarly it could employ different types of craft and wildly different technologies and strategies in every encounter.

This is the future I anticipate for humanity, as well; using smart matter and vast amounts of easily available computing power, future humans could adopt any type of body they desire, and adopt any kind of lifestyle they wish, including sets of behaviours that might seem bizarre to us. today. A citizen of a sufficiently advanced civilisation would only need to imagine something, and it would become reality, assuming it was within the (presumably lage) limits of their technology. This would explain the wide variety of entities that are seen in various close encounters, without resorting to the 'interdimensional' explanation, which seems very unlikely and unnecessary to me for several reasons.
Effectively this is the Distortion Theory, in which an "intelligent other" disguises its true nature when interacting with us humans. This theory has been championed by Spanish ufologist José Antonio Caravaca, although his new, highly recommended book on this very subject is only available in Spanish at present.

Nick Redfern has also touched on why the UFO occupants of the 50s-80s are always seemingly engaged in mundane tasks e.g. some sort of repairs or pointing objects at the ground, until they become aware of the witness and then suddenly touch a button on their belts or point some sort of 'wand' to paralyse/distract the witness as they make their 'escape'. He has speculated this is also an aspect of the Distortion effect as at the end of the day these humanoids have not actually achieved anything for all their efforts (other than get caught and frighten the witness).
 
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Effectively this is the Distortion Theory, in which a "intelligent other" disguises its true nature when interacting with us humans. This theory has been championed by Spanish ufologist José Antonio Caravaca, although his new, highly recommended book on this very subject is only available in Spanish at present.

Nick Redfern has also touched on why the UFO occupants of the 50s-80s are always seemingly engaged in mundane tasks e.g. some sort of repairs or pointing objects at the ground, until they become aware of the witness and then suddenly touch a button on their belts or point some sort of 'wand' to paralyse/distract the witness as they make their 'escape'. He has speculated this is also an aspect of the Distortion effect as at the end of the day these humanoids have not actually achieved anything for all their efforts (other than get caught and frighten the witness).
I often wonder where they live and what are they doing now....a bit like people who have passed on but I don't know why we can not that out why apart from the few who have had so encounters.
 
Perhaps this doesn't belong here, but have you discussed the Rosa Lotti case in Italy in 1954?
She witnessed a landed UFO and two strange occupants, and reported this experience to local police:

https://www.ufoinsight.com/aliens/encounters/ufo-landing-encounter-of-rosa-lotti

"The incident was investigated and documented at the time, and subject to several reinvestigations in the years that followed. What’s more, it is a case with several corroborating witnesses whose respective accounts match each other in terms of location and the object witnessed. And these witnesses appear to be largely very credible, despite the seemingly outlandish details of the incident.

What is perhaps also of interest is that the incident happened during one of the busiest years in UFO history and what is referred to in UFO circles as the 1954 Wave. This surge of sightings saw reports of strange objects overhead and even strange creatures from all over the planet, with Italy seeing more than its fair share of increased sightings.

The encounter of Rosa Lotti remains an important one in UFO history, and certainly one of the most intriguing."

View attachment 56278
It was fascinating to read this detailed account.

Two things:

1. I am not so sure that drawing of the object is correct as the object looks too small from her description and she described a :glass door". Also here was talk of a "huge hole" in the ground later on. Do we know if she had any input into this drawing as it certainly influences perception of her encounter.

2. At no time was the object airborne.
 
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It was fascinating to read this detailed account.

Two things:

1. I am not so sure that drawing of the object is correct as the object looks too small from her description and she described a :glass door". Also here was talk of a "huge hole" in the ground later on. Do we know if she had any input into this drawing as it certainly influences perception of her encounter.

2. At no time was the object airborne.
I know, it is a very strange story, and Ms. Lotti's descriptions in some accounts differ - for instance, she claimed these two UFO occupants had 'rabbit teeth' in some articles, and that the craft was 'bell shaped' in others.
Being that she was described as a 'peasant woman living on a farm', with 4 children, it sounds as if she was not highly educated (not trying to be mean) and unable to understand or accurately describe exactly what she saw.
But she was apparently in shock, and saw something very disturbing.
I wish I could find my old 'Fate Magazine' which did an article on this story, but they are at this time packed up to move.
 
It was fascinating to read this detailed account.

Two things:

1. I am not so sure that drawing of the object is correct as the object looks too small from her description and she described a :glass door". Also here was talk of a "huge hole" in the ground later on. Do we know if she had any input into this drawing as it certainly influences perception of her encounter.

2. At no time was the object airborne.
I found this site which has more details from Ms. Lotti and discusses the deep hole also, and that the picture was an artist's impression:

http://www.noufors.com/the_1954_Cennina_landing_and_encounter_with_humanoids.html#:~:text=THE CENNINA LANDING OF 1954 Sergio Conti NOVEMBER,as No. 24 in his Century of Landings).
 
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The Lotti case is endlessly fascinating, and that storybook-type illustration by Molino is a classic.

One thing I did note is that the other sightings in the same 'wave' show a wide variation in the objects and humanoids reported (they're all short, but some seem to use breathing apparatus, some don't; some wear metallic 'clothing', others don't, etc). Despite Lotti's detailed close up description, instead of consistency, we get a bewildering variety.
 
The Lotti case is endlessly fascinating, and that storybook-type illustration by Molino is a classic.

One thing I did note is that the other sightings in the same 'wave' show a wide variation in the objects and humanoids reported (they're all short, but some seem to use breathing apparatus, some don't; some wear metallic 'clothing', others don't, etc). Despite Lotti's detailed close up description, instead of consistency, we get a bewildering variety.
It is fascinating, and she even had 2 witnesses, they saw her with these two strange beings in the forest, if you check out the link above.
 
It is fascinating, and she even had 2 witnesses, they saw her with these two strange beings in the forest, if you check out the link above.
The children? The little boy thought the craft was some sort of “large animal” which is intriguing as Rosa herself described it as appearing to be “covered in leather (I.e. hide)

To my mind it is classic little people/fa/ fairy lore, especially as the craft was never airborne during her encounter. Whilst intriguing, some of the later sightings were somewhat varied (as already noted) and I feel researchers made too much of an effort to shoehorn these into the same category/experience as Rosa’s.

Another possibility is the hole in the ground implies some sort of human machinery being used. She was a peasant after all, so did she misidentify something new machinery, perhaps something American…? Doesn’t explain the size of the little people, although of course there are humans with dwarfism.

Finally, was there a circus passing through and were these circus dwarfs with there unusual caravan? No noises, flames, propellers or any other indications of the object being able to fly were seen. Might be clutching at straws but no more than those ufologists who decided this static object with no obvious means of propulsion was an alien spaceship….
 
One thing about this incident that's misrepresented in Molina's illustration ...

Rosa set off early to walk to the village and its church. Her encounter occurred circa 0630 local time on 1 November.

Sunrise at Cennina on 1 November doesn't occur until 0648. Her encounter occurred under no more than twilight illumination, and the level of illumination would have depended on the weather and cloud cover at the time.

My point is that the precision of her observations may have been affected by the lighting conditions.
 
One thing about this incident that's misrepresented in Molina's illustration ...

Rosa set off early to walk to the village and its church. Her encounter occurred circa 0630 local time on 1 November.

Sunrise at Cennina on 1 November doesn't occur until 0648. Her encounter occurred under no more than twilight illumination, and the level of illumination would have depended on the weather and cloud cover at the time.

My point is that the precision of her observations may have been affected by the lighting conditions.

There are a few other points to note about the case.

The first is that it was not properly 'investigated' until the early 1970s by the GRSF group under Siro Menicucci, so we're largely reliant on contemporary newspapers.

Second point is that while the witness wasn't necessarily a typical flying saucer enthusiast, she'd been discussing the subject the previous evening due to the number of news stories at the time.

In addition, the corroborating story by the Torzini brothers first emerged in a school essay - which has to introduce an element of doubt.
 
Forteans who might wish to investigate this case more closely, while working on their tans and chianti cellars, might wish to rent the very house from which Signora Lotti walked on that November morning:

La-Collina-Fortean-UFO.jpg


http://www.chiantilacollina.it/

Copy & paste the following into Google Earth, and it'll drop you right outside:

43°26'10.20 N, 11°36'26.00 E

Here's the as-the-crow-flies route from La Collina to the centre of Cennina, the general direction in which Signora Lotti walked:

La-Collina-to-Cennina-path.jpg


The site for the house even has a link to more info about the sighting, including another image of the occupants of the artifact:

La-Collina-UFO-occupants.jpg


Much of the info is, however, in Italian.

maximus otter
 
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Forteans who might wish to investigate this case more closely, while working on their tans and chianti cellars, might wish to rent the very house from which Signora Lotti walked on that November morning:

La-Collina-Fortean-UFO.jpg


http://www.chiantilacollina.it/

Copy & paste the following into Google Earth, and it'll drop you right outside:

43°26'10.20 N, 11°36'26.00 E

Here's the as-the-crow-flies route from La Collina to the centre of Cennina, the general direction in which Signora Lotti walked:

La-Collina-to-Cennina-path.jpg


The site for the house even has a link to more info about the sighting, including another image of the occupants of the artifact:

La-Collina-UFO-occupants.jpg


Much of the info is, however, in Italian.

maximus otter
Wow - that's a beautiful home for a 'peasant woman' living on a farm, looks very much like a mansion!
 
http://it.wikiufo.org/index.php?title=Immagine:Cennina-luoghi1.jpg
The linked image is, apparently, the 'landing site' itself as of 2006.

Here's a URL to the (Google-translated) English version of the associated wiki page:

https://it-wikiufo-org.translate.go...tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

Such as it is, this account includes some tidbits I don't think I'd seen anywhere else:

- Rosa glimpsed the "spindle" object through or above bushes before entering the clearing in which it stood.

- The "spindle" object is described as having pointed ends, one of which was "driven vertically into the ground."

- The object contained two "portholes", and the two round seats Rosa reported were located in front of the portholes.

- The entire encounter lasted about 10 minutes.

- Rosa exited the scene "with a brisk step" (as opposed to running), looked back to see the two beings standing at the object, then "continued on her way" (i.e., no mention of running).

- Rosa returned to the scene with others from the villlage about 30 minutes later.

- The object was gone, but there was a hole in the ground "as produced by a large pointed pole" 10 cm in diameter and circa 15 cm deep.

- "A letter sent to the “Giornale del Mattino” a few days later, in the form of a postcard posted in Rome, reported the statements of an anonymous person, according to which he himself was the creator of the staging concocted against the witness."
 
Some great findings and also, as in so many cases, it was not as straightforward as it has been presented.

For example, 15 deep is not the “huge hole” mentioned elsewhere, especially as it was just 10cm in diameter. Actually, it is the size of a badger scrape or freshly dug latrine:

http://badgerland.co.uk/animals/evidence.html

Also, the ‘humanoids’ behaved in a childish manner and appear to have human faces, so - Occam’s Razor time - were-they actually human children…. ?

Perhaps I am being overly sceptical but the involvement of a ufologist years after the actual event is a red flag to me as suddenly you have confirmation bias and pressure on the witness to conform to the ufologists beliefs and expectations
 
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I found this site which has more details from Ms. Lotti and discusses the deep hole also, and that the picture was an artist's impression:
http://www.noufors.com/the_1954_Cennina_landing_and_encounter_with_humanoids.html#:~:text=THE CENNINA LANDING OF 1954 Sergio Conti NOVEMBER,as No. 24 in his Century of Landings).

That article is a condensed or extensively excerpted piece derived from Sergio Conti's 1972 article about the incident (Flying Saucer Review, Vol. 18 no. 5 (September / October), unpaginated(?)).

Here (attached) is a scanned PDF file of Conti's entire / original article. I'm attaching it because the download from the source link below doesn't seem to reliably work.

SOURCE: http://www.ignaciodarnaude.com/avistamientos_ovnis/Conti,Humanoids 1954,Cennina,FSR72V18N5.pdf
 

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That article is a condensed or extensively excerpted piece derived from Sergio Conti's 1972 article about the incident (Flying Saucer Review, Vol. 18 no. 5 (September / October), unpaginated(?)).

Here (attached) is a scanned PDF file of Conti's entire / original article. I'm attaching it because the download from the source link below doesn't seem to reliably work.

SOURCE: http://www.ignaciodarnaude.com/avistamientos_ovnis/Conti,Humanoids 1954,Cennina,FSR72V18N5.pdf
Thanks

Also, a fascinating Scottish UFO and humanoids case from 1958 detailed by Janet Bord on the final page. I recall having heard it before but interesting to see it in detail. Maybe deserves a thread of its own :)
 
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That article is a condensed or extensively excerpted piece derived from Sergio Conti's 1972 article about the incident (Flying Saucer Review, Vol. 18 no. 5 (September / October), unpaginated(?)).

Here (attached) is a scanned PDF file of Conti's entire / original article. I'm attaching it because the download from the source link below doesn't seem to reliably work.

SOURCE: http://www.ignaciodarnaude.com/avistamientos_ovnis/Conti,Humanoids 1954,Cennina,FSR72V18N5.pdf
Thank you, that was an excellent overview of the entire incident.
Surely with the 'fear and alarm' that Ms. Lotti showed, she must have had some type of strange experience?
And so many eyewitnesses seeing a flying vehicle on that day or thereabouts in the area seems a confirmation.
 
Thank you, that was an excellent overview of the entire incident.
Surely with the 'fear and alarm' that Ms. Lotti showed, she must have had some type of strange experience?
And so many eyewitnesses seeing a flying vehicle on that day or thereabouts in the area seems a confirmation.
The object sounds more like a diving bell complete with “portholes”than a flying machine and she only saw it rooted to the ground.

True, other objects were seen in the sky but it is pure ETH UFO belief system speculation this was a flying machine. In fact, look how ‘alien’ diving equipment looks on the surface:

9B4999CD-E5BB-47B5-BBA7-DB5C3CDD7EE6.jpeg
 
The object sounds more like a diving bell complete with “portholes”than a flying machine and she only saw it rooted to the ground.

True, other objects were seen in the sky but it is pure ETH/Ufology speculation this was a flying machine
Odd though, isn't it, that the UFO sightings were either on the same day, or a day or two later?
And what on earth would a diving bell be doing in the middle of a forest? With two little beings?
 
Odd though, isn't it, that the UFO sightings were either on the same day, or a day or two later?
And what on earth would a diving bell be doing in the middle of a forest? With two little beings?
Perhaps there was a scrap metal facility nearby? Perhaps it is some US or Axis abandoned military hardware from the war a few years earlier?

My point is that the object was not airborne during the encounter, so unfortunately this brings into play possible human-made contraptions, either ‘out-of-place’ or as a deliberate joke on the witness. To claim it is an alien spacecraft may be informed speculation but it is speculation nonetheles.

I‘m not trying to be clever or disrespectful to anyones beliefs, but I don’t feel we can overlook that fact.
 
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