Tag Archives: CNIFAA

Renzo Cabassi (1945-2025)

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On Saturday, March 1, Renzo Cabassi, a veteran of Italian ufology and founding member of the Centro Italiano Studi Ufologico, died. He had recently turned 80.
Born in Trivero in 1945 but always lived in Bologna, he had become passionate about the subject when he was less than 14 years old. In the 1960s he created a small local association, then he joined the Centro Unico Nazionale (CUN), of which he became secretary, then editor of the magazine “Notiziario UFO” and board member.
Having left the CUN in 1973, together with Roberto Farabone, Francesco Izzo and other former members he created the CNIFAA (Italian National Committee for the study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena), which from 1976 to 1984 published the first academic (peer reviewed) journal on the subject: UFO Phenomena International Annual Review (UPIAR). Nel 1974 he was the editor of “UFO Why” anthology and in 1975 he authored the first Italian booklet of UFO epistemology (“UFO Base Zero”).
A long-time advocate of a scientific approach to ufology, in 1985 he was among the promoters of the Italian Center for UFO Studies, an association in which he was the regional coordinator for Emilia-Romagna for years, and often on the board 1991 and 2000.
Animator of the CISU commission on “luminous phenomena in the atmosphere”, in 2000 he promoted the establishment of the Italian Committee for the Hessdalen Project (CIPH), supporting the program of observations and instrumental surveys of the recurring phenomena in that Norwegian valley.
Since 2005 he has been an honorary member of CISU.

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In the photos above: Renzo Cabassi in 1975 (Peter Kolosimo’s conference in Bologna), 1979 (CUN sections meeting in Florence), 1987 (CISU International conference in Torino), 1992 (6° national UFO conference, in Bologna) and 2018 (CISU conference in Bologna)

Roberto Farabone named CISU Honorary President

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On 20 October 2020 the CISU board of directors appointed Roberto Farabone as honorary president of the Italian Center for UFO Studies.
Born in Bologna in 1944, with a degree in physics, he  moved to Milan, where he spent his entire career as a computer scientist in a multinational company, writing several technical books and manuals.
Interested in UFOs since the mid-1960s, he joined the CUN, then assumed a leading role in the CNIFAA (Independent National Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena) and in 1976 became editor of UPIAR (UFO Phenomena International Annual Review), the first example of a refereed journal about UFOs.
In 1979 he was among the promoters of a request signed by over 30 scientists and academics, to ask the Italian Ministry of Defense a full  access to UFO data collected by the Italian military. The same year he was appointed coordinator of the scientific committee of Centro Ufologico Nazionale and later served on the editorial board of CUN internal magazine “Quaderni UFO”.
1987-06-20_to_farabonecabassimeluzziIn 1982 he was coordinator of the International Upiar Colloquium on Human Sciences and UFO Phenomena, held in Salzburg, also editing the congress proceedings. When the Cooperative Initiatives and Studies UPIAR was created, he was named board president and later a council member until 2005. A founding member of CISU, he held the position of president from 1988 to 1996.
In his long UFO activity he has carried out investigations, lectured, participated in conferences and written dozens of articles published, among other things, in “Notiziario Ufo”, “Ufologia”; “Ufo Forum”.
After retiring from active ufology, he donated his archives and UFO library to the Italian Center for UFO Studies.
– – –In the above photo: Roberto Farabone at the 4th National UFO Congress (Bologna, 13/10/1990)

In the photo below: Farabone with Renzo Cabassi and Alessandro Meluzzi at CISU International Congress (Turin, 20/06/1987)