Ufo 78

In Italy, the year 1978 immediately calls to mind the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, the events related to the Fourth Andreotti government, the “Years of lead” marked by far-right and far-wing terrorism, the fight for women's rights, the succession of three popes on the papal throne, the rise of communes, the widespread drug problem. We find all this in Wu Ming's book, though depicted from an unusual perspective – 1978 was also the year in which the highest number of UFO sightings was recorded in Italy – and narrated by the different voices of a group of characters whose connection is the world of ufology: Martin Zanka, a communist author who writes books about “paleo cosmonautics”; his son Vincenzo, a former heroin addict living in a commune in the Lunigiana region; Milena Cravero, a young anthropologist researching ufologists; and then Jimmy Fruzzetti, Gheppio, Pardo and many others. The book's different narrative levels interweave at several points and revolve around a mystery that unravels within the setting of an uncanny, even unfathomable, mountain: the Quarzerone, an imaginary place where, for various reasons, the lives and investigations of the protagonists converge. The narrators develop an elegant interplay of fact and fiction, creating an atypical and enthralling murder mystery story that delves into the dark heart of Italy's past and reinterprets the history of those years through complex, and never obvious or stereotypical, viewpoints. The book is also interspersed with wonderful music, including that of Popol Vuh, Franco Battiato, the Deep Purple, the Area – the perfect soundtrack to accompany its reading.  

Ufo 78
Wu Ming
Einaudi, 2022