Over the course of two weeks in Rome in 1954 hundreds of UFOs flew in organized formations seen by thousands of people and dropped physical evidence over the onlookers

The Italian diplomat Dr Alberto Perego was among a crowd of about a hundred people near the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore on 30 October1954 who stood and gazed upwards in astonishment as two ‘white dots’ moved around the sky in complete silence at a height of about 2,000 meters.

Then again on 6 November Dr Perego was in the Tuscolano district when more UFOs appeared, but this time there were dozens of them. ‘Today, between 11.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m.,’ he noted at the time, ‘the sky of Rome has been crossed by several dozens of flying machines travelling at a height of around 7,000 or 8,000 meters. They were moving at variable speeds, which at times seemed to be as high as 1,200 or 1,400 km per hour. The machines appeared like “white dots”, sometimes with a short white trail.

‘At first I calculated that there were about fifty of them, but later I realized that there were at least one hundred. Sometimes they were isolated, sometimes in pairs, or in threes or fours or sevens or twelves. Frequently they were in diamond or “lozenge” formations of four, or in “V” formations of seven.’

At noon, Dr Perego reported, a large formation of twenty objects appeared from the east, followed by another twenty coming from the opposite direction. ‘The two “V” shaped squadrons converged rapidly until the vertices of the two “V’s” met, thus forming a perfect “St Andrew’s Cross” of forty machines, with ten to each bar.’ The convergence seemed to occur at a height of about 7,000 or 8,000 meters over the Trastevere – Monte Mario district of Rome – right over the Vatican City. The entire ‘cross’ then performed a three – quarter turn on its axis, becoming more of an ‘X’ shape, then broke off into two separate curves which moved off in opposite directions. The performance had lasted about three minutes, Dr Perego noted. But the show was not over.

‘As I watched, I saw what appeared like a large bluish shadow forming in the sky ten minutes later and realized that it was a fresh concentration building up as, in formations and squadrons of four and seven and twelve, they began to reappear. This time I was able to make a better count, and could see that they totaled at least one hundred. This time the concentration was in another part of the sky, and not directly above the Vatican.’

Dr Perego then noticed what appeared to be a shining filament – type material coming out of the sky, the substance that has subsequently been nicknamed ‘angel hair’, reported by witnesses throughout the world. ‘I was able to seize a handful of it,’ he said. ‘It looked like the fine twigs and filaments of a Christmas tree, but thinner, and very long. It was not like the filaments used in the last war by the US bombers to disturb the enemy radar [chaff]. It was not tinfoil, but rather a “glassy” sort of substance, which evaporated completely in a few hours.’

The following day, 7 November, not a word appeared in the newspapers. Dr Perego’s enquiries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs drew a blank: they knew nothing about the sightings. At 11.30 a.m., returning to the Tuscolano district, Perego was astonished to see further formations of objects, totaling about fifty, which remained in the sky for two and a half hours. ‘The squadrons would always arrive from different directions,’ he recalled, ‘and always in regular formations. They would fly away over the country around Rome, and return in formation ten minutes later for the next “concentration”.’

Yet again, the strange ‘angel hair’ descended over Rome, which thousands of people must have witnessed. But there was still no word from the press, apart from a report in Il Messagero that in England RAF radar had detected squadrons of mysterious objects on 6 November . ‘At the British War Office, they are concerned,’ concluded the report. But not, it seems, in the Italian War Office.

The next day Dr Perego called on Air Force General Pezzi, Chief of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Defence. ‘He received me very courteously,’ said Perego, ‘but he said he knew nothing whatever about the events I described. I read my notes to him, and asked him to report the matter to the Minister of Defense.’

On 10 November Dr Perego was received by the Principal Secretary of Foreign Affairs, but drew a blank once more. He knew nothing about the matter, and was surprised that the military authorities had made no report to him. The reason became apparent the following day when Perego visited General de Vincenti, Commander of the Italian Air Force, who explained that since radar operated over certain fixed zones, at certain times, and only up to 6 – 7,000 meters, nothing had been tracked.

When the mysterious objects made yet another appearance over Rome, on 12 November (again in the morning), Dr Perego immediately contacted General de Vincenti at Air Defence Headquarters, who said that orders had been issued for observations to be made. Although no official confirmation from military sources was forthcoming, Perego paid a visit to the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo near Rome and learned that a Brazilian priest on duty at about 11.00 a.m. had seen some strange objects pass twice over the Observatory, very low and at terrific speed, in complete silence.

-Above Top Secret, Timothy Good