How Italy reports a UFO: from the Carabinieri to the Air Force
In Italy, a civilian reporting an unidentified phenomenon completes a form and submits it to a Carabinieri station. The Air Force checks for natural and human causes, publishes the event and retains the UFO classification only when no technical or natural explanation is found.
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A system born from the 1978 wave
Following the 1978 wave of reports, Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti assigned the subject to the Italian Air Force. Its linked official page describes the path from a civilian report to technical examination.
The witness begins at a Carabinieri station
A civilian completes a dedicated form and delivers it to the nearest Carabinieri station. This produces a timed, attributable location record rather than a social media post that may disappear. The Air Force can then begin a technical inquiry and involve other authorities where needed.
What investigators look for first
The stated purpose is to test correlations with human activity and natural phenomena while protecting flight and national safety. Only when no technical or natural justification is found is the episode classified as an unidentified flying object. The term describes the identification result, not the object's origin.
The archive shows continuity
The website arranges reports by year from 1972 through 2026. The lists allow searches by time and place and comparisons of the details made public.
The witness reporting form
The linked official form shows which details witnesses are asked to supply. Public lists do not include the complete examination material for every event, so they do not always allow reconstruction of an identification decision.
Sources and context
After the 1978 sighting wave, Italy designated the Air Force as the institution responsible for collecting, checking and monitoring UFO reports. The function now sits with the General Security Department of the Air Staff, and its official page indexes reporting years from 1972 through 2026.
The public page does not place complete sensor material, witness interviews and the detailed analytical method for every case in one location. Listing an event does not establish unusual physics or non human origin.