Case Study: The Alleged Magenta, Italy UFO Encounter of 1933
Introduction
Grusch’s NewsNation remarks were repeated seven weeks later, this time under oath, on July 26, 2023, when he testified before the House Oversight Committee Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs in a hearing titled: “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency.” He once again cited “The Magenta incident.” And his June NewsNation interview transcript was then entered into the official Congressional record.
While Grusch’s News Nation interview sparked renewed interest in the Magenta incident in the United States and abroad, especially among UFO researchers, the report about “a Magenta event” in Italy in 1933 was not entirely new. Italian researchers have investigated the case since the 1990s. Our NPI Preliminary Review of this case explores what is known about the alleged incident and the documents at the heart of this story.
Alleged Events Near Magenta, Italy
According to some sources, a disc- or bell-shaped object either crashed or was forced to land near Magenta, Italy approximately 25 kilometers west of Milan, in mid-1933. Commonly cited dates include June 13 and, less frequently, April 11 of 1933.
Then Italian Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini allegedly had the wreckage secured, suspecting it could be a foreign technological weapon. A government directive reportedly ordered the Italian press to maintain "absolute silence" about the event, under threat of arrest.
According to these sources, a clandestine government unit, referred to as Gabinetto RS/33 ("Special Research, 1933"), was purportedly created under Mussolini’s regime to investigate the incident. The group was allegedly chaired by Nobel Prize-winning radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi and it allegidly reported directly to Mussolini. The task force’s mission: analyze the craft, any material debris, and similar sightings.
Report from these sources claim that the object was transported to the SIAI-Marchetti aircraft facility in Vergiate, northwest of Milan, where it remained until almost the very end of World War II. Italian researchers Roberto Pinotti and Alfredo Lissoni assert that personnel from the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) seized the remains of this object in 1944 and transferred them to the United States.
Origin of the Claims: The RS/33 Cabinet Papers
The primary source of information about the Magenta incident is a cache of documents first received anonymously between 1996 and 2000 by Italian researchers Roberto Pinotti and Alfredo Lissoni. The sender, who code-named himself (or herself) as “Mr. X,” mailed several 1930s-era documents—some originals, others photocopies—to a small group of newspapers and researchers.
While more prominent news outlets such as Il Resto del Carlino showed little interest in these documents, others like UFO Notiziario, founded by Pinotti, devoted substantial attention to analyzing and publishing the contents. These documents became known as the “RS/33 Cabinet papers.”
Key Figures and Analysis
Dr. Roberto Pinotti, founder of Centro Ufologico Nazionale (CUN), first publicized the documents in 1996. He, thereafter, presented them at the 2000 World UFO Symposium in San Marino, Italy and later published translations and analyses, including via internet platforms such as The Black Vault.
Alfredo Lissoni, another Italian journalist and archivist, co-presented with Pinotti at the 2000 World UFO Symposium and later authored UFO Crash at Vergiate. He played a key role in translating and contextualizing the materials.
The documents allegedly include:
Two telegram drafts bearing Mussolini’s name instructing officials to suppress information;
A memorandum describing a “metallic disc… with portholes”;
A sketch of the unidentified object;
Multiple references to “RS/33,” the secret research cabinet supposedly led by Marconi.
Document details:
Batch #1 (Jan 1996)
2 letters on Senato del Regno stationery
3 “RISERVATISSIMO” telegrams from Telegraphic Office, Milan
All documents dated June 13, 1933
Batch #2 (spring 1996)
2-page handwritten memo to “Valiberghi” with a sketch of disc/cigar shaped air vehicle seen over Mestre.
Stefani-agency telegram 23/47: “ASSOLUTO SEGRETO sugli aeromobili non identificati…”
Documents dated August 22, 1936
Batch #3 (10 Sep 1999)
Anonymous “Mr X” letter + press clipping
Documents dated 1999
Loose items (undated, same envelopes)
Agency Stefani Letter to an “Alfredo” urging total silence about “The Moretti Case.”
Invitation card to Mussolini & wife for a “riunione riservatissima dedicata al Gabinetto RS/33” at Villa Torlonia.
One-million-lire banknote marked “Fondi RS/33”.
Forensic testing conducted at the time allegedly confirmed the documents’ ink and paper dated to the 1930s. However, the full lab reports have never been publicly released, and no independent verification of the results has been provided.
Skepticism and Alternative Claims
Critics of the Magenta account note that no other known documentation from the Italian government references the RS/33 Cabinet. No corroborating archival evidence has been found to support the cabinet’s existence or its alleged activities.
In 2019, researcher William Brophy introduced new, controversial claims, asserting that bodies of “Nordic extraterrestrial beings” were recovered at the crash site and that the object was bell-shaped. These claims are widely considered to be entirely “speculative” on the part of Brophy and are not supported by the original RS/33 documents.
Mentions in UFO Literature
Though the Magenta case remains obscure among English-speaking audiences, it has appeared in a number of articles and books in European UFO literature:
Timothy Good, in his 1996 book Beyond Top Secret, referenced the Magenta incident. He summarized Pinotti and Lissoni’s findings as an early crash-retrieval event.
William Brophy published an article in Filer’s Files in 2019 and claims to have presented about the Magenta crash at a different San Marino symposium, potentially the 18th Symposium on 18 April 2010; however, details are scarce confirming this.
Lue Elizondo, former official with the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), acknowledged his “awareness of” the Magenta crash Reports during a public conference in 2025 when asked about historic UFO retrievals.
The alleged 1933 UFO crash in Magenta, Italy, remains a very interesting and, to some, quite compelling, though still unverified, storyin the history of unidentified aerial phenomena. While some aspects align with broader patterns in reported crash-retrieval narratives, the credibility of the case is hindered by a lack of official corroboration and limited public access to original documentation. Nevertheless, the fact remains that both David Grusch and Luis Elizondo referenced the Magenta encounter in official top-secret US briefing documents which lends a greater degree of credibility to the story.