Peter Kolosimo
Peter Kolosimo, pseudonym of Pier Domenico Colosimo (Modena, 15 December 1922 – Milan, 23 March 1984), was an Italian journalist and writer. He is ranked amongst the founders of pseudoarchaeology (in Italian: fantarcheologia), a controversial topic in which interpretations of the past are made that are not accepted by the archaeological science community, which rejects the accepted data-gathering and analytical methods of the discipline. He also popularised ancient astronaut theories of contact between extraterrestrial beings and ancient human civilizations.
Also recorded as Omega Jim · Peter Colosimo · Pier Domenico Colosimo
Peter Kolosimo
- Birth Name
- Pier Domenico Colosimo
- Birthplace
- Modena, Italy
- Born
- 15 December 1922
- Place of death
- Milan, Italy
- Died
- 23 March 1984
- Occupation
- writer
- Nationality
- Italy · Kingdom of Italy
- Fields
- ufology · sexology · prehistoric archaeology · Germanic philology
- Education
- Leipzig University
- Known for
- Not of This World
- Honours
- Bancarella Literary Prize
- Languages
- Italian · German · Russian
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Documentary summary
Peter Kolosimo, pseudonym of Pier Domenico Colosimo (Modena, 15 December 1922 – Milan, 23 March 1984), was an Italian journalist and writer. He is ranked amongst the founders of pseudoarchaeology (in Italian: fantarcheologia), a controversial topic in which interpretations of the past are made that are not accepted by the archaeological science community, which rejects the accepted data-gathering and analytical methods of the discipline. He also popularised ancient astronaut theories of contact between extraterrestrial beings and ancient human civilizations.
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Note VALÉORINE
Peter Kolosimo (1922–1984) was an author, essayist and journalist, among other activities, of Italian and Italian nationality. The author was born in Modena and died in Milan.
Peter Kolosimo was educated at Leipzig University. The author worked for L'Unità, Radio Capodistria and Società Umanitaria and lived in Milan and Turin. Activity centred on alchemy, astroarchaeology and Germanic philology.
Among the works is Not of This World. Languages used include English, German and Italian. Honours include Bancarella Literary Prize.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 30 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q2738124 · wikipedia · Peter Kolosimo
In this article
Biography
Biography
During the late 1950s and the 1960s, he was published in some of the first Italian science fiction magazines, such as Romanzi del Cosmo ("Cosmic Novels"), and his articles were regularly featured in the science/science fiction magazine Oltre il Cielo ("Beyond the Sky"). He published many more books, all widely popular and translated in 60 countries, including Russia, Japan, and China. In the 1970s and early 1980s until his death, he was the editor of many magazines, including Pi Kappa, a "fantarchaeologia" magazine covering the same topics that Kolosimo did in his books. In later life, he wrote a few books with his wife, Caterina, by whom he had a daughter, Alessandra (born 1970). Kolosimo also founded and coordinated the Italian Association for Prehistoric Studies (ASP).
Peter Kolosimo studied at Leipzig University. The recorded working language is Italian, German and Russian. The field of work recorded is ufology, sexology and prehistoric archaeology. Lovecraft, Louis Pauwels and Wernher von Braun are recorded as an influence. Residence is recorded at Turin and Milan. Employment is recorded with Radio Capodistria, L'Unità and Società Umanitaria. Works named in the authority record are Not of This World. Distinctions recorded are Bancarella Literary Prize.
Key facts
Key facts
• Birth Name — Pier Domenico Colosimo • Birthplace — Modena, Italy • Born — 15 December 1922 • Place of death — Milan, Italy • Died — 23 March 1984 • Occupation — writer • Subject — pseudoarchaeology ancient astronauts • Notable Works — Astronavi sulla preistoria Not of This World
Novels
Novels
• Fronte del sole or I cavalieri delle stelle (From Outer Space; 1979, with Caterina Kolosimo) • Missione uomo (1982, with Oscar Warner)
Editor
Editor
• Pi Kappa, rivista di mistero, archeologia ed esobiologia (director), I-II, (1972-1973) • Dimensione X, enciclopedia del mistero (coordinator), 1-10, (1982) • Italia misteriosa (editor, 1984) • Scrutando nel futuro (editor, 1984)
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings Omega Jim, Peter Colosimo and Pier Domenico Colosimo. His recorded languages were Italian, German, Russian and English. He married Caterina Kolosimo.
Career and activity
Career and activity
Peter Kolosimo worked in ufology, sexology, prehistoric archaeology, Germanic philology and alchemy. He was employed by Radio Capodistria, L'Unità and Società Umanitaria. He worked at Turin and Milan.
Identity
Identity
Peter Kolosimo is recorded as writer, journalist, ufologist, essayist and science communicator.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1922–1984
The full dated record · 4 entries
1922
Peter Kolosimo born at Modena.
1961
Peter Kolosimo sul mentalismo digitised by Internet Archive.
1961
Peter Kolosimo sul mentalismo (1961) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1984
Peter Kolosimo died at Milan.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Turin and Milan
Residences
Modena.
Birth place
Milan.
Death place
Books
• Il pianeta sconosciuto (1957) • Terra senza tempo (1964; translated into English as Timeless Earth) • Ombre sulle stelle (1966) • Psicologia dell'eros (1967) • Non è terrestre (1968; translated as Not of this World) • Guida al mondo dei sogni (1968) • Il comportamento erotico degli europei (1970) • Cittadini delle tenebre (1971) • Astronavi sulla preistoria (1972; translated as Spaceships in Prehistory) • Odissea stellare (1974) • Fratelli dell'infinito (1975) • Polvere d'inferno (1975) • Italia mistero cosmico (1977) • Civiltà del silenzio (1978) • Fiori di luna (1979) • Io e l'indiano (1979) • Viaggiatori del tempo (1981) • I misteri dell'universo (1982, with Caterina Kolosimo)
Reception
Kolosimo's claims about ancient astronauts influencing human civilizations are considered to be pseudohistory. In a review of Kolosimo's Not of This World, Jason Colavito has alleged that the book fabricates evidence, mistranslates sources and conflates science fiction and fact. Wu Ming, an Italy-based collective of writers, considered Kolosimo a "fellow novelist" and wrote about him on several occasions, including a story published in GQ (Italian edition), where they stated, "we like to think he just left the planet, and is still travelling across the universe." He is remembered lovingly as well by the writer Massimo Pietroselli in Fantascienza.com, an Italian science fiction online magazine, as a dreamer who was writing for the people, and encouraging the Soviet alternative to regular, conservative science, and did so successfully. Pagine 70, another Italian magazine, described Non è terrestre as his "first official revenge on the academic world" that tended to reject his ideas. The author goes on to describe Kolosimo as "an affable man, perhaps a great conversationalist, certainly an uncommon man." He describes Kolosimo’s work as undeterred against the repeated "snobbery of the academic world" and argues that it demonstrates that "imagination is a social weapon, which can break down regimes, give birth to states, and think … even manage to land on the moon."
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Peter Kolosimo, Non è terrestre (1969); Astronavi sulla preistoria (1972).
- 2.Iannuzzi, Giulia. Fantascienza italiana. Riviste, autori, dibattiti dagli anni Cinquanta agli anni Settanta. Mimesis. 87, 107, 131. 2014. 9788857521503.
- 3.Peter Kolosimo, 30 anni "across the universe" (1984 - 2014). 20 March 2014.
- 4."Dei del Cielo, Dei della Terra" . Retrieved 2015-05-12.
- 5.Bullard, Thomas E. (1996). Ancient Astronauts. In The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Edited by Gordon Stein. Prometheus Books. pp. 25-32.
- 6.Colavito, Jason. (2014). Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Last Part. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
- 7.UFOs and Revolution: In Memory of comrade Peter Kolosimo | Wu Ming Foundation. www.wumingfoundation.com.
- 8.PK: Peter Kolosimo, sognatore patafisico - pagina 2. www.fantascienza.com.
- 9.PAGINE 70 - anni 70 - anni settanta, 70's, investigatori privati.Confronta i prezzi degli hotel.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q2738124: Peter KolosimoWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Peter Kolosimo studied at Leipzig University. His recorded influences include H. Lovecraft, Louis Pauwels, Wernher von Braun and Pablo Neruda.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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