HOAX / FAKEMESSAGES & CODES
The Poirino Formation
2011 · Poirino, south-east of Turin · Piedmont · Italy
WHAT IT IS
A vast star-centred wheel beside an Italian motorway, nicknamed 'Enki Ea' by its admirers and read as a coded message. Its maker was a sceptic running an experiment.
THE ALIEN READING
Italy's most famous formation: circulated online as an alien or Mayan-themed message, decoded and debated as unexplained.
WHAT THE RECORD SAYS
It was made by Francesco Grassi, an electronics engineer and member of the Italian sceptics' group CICAP who had learned the craft from English makers. He calls it 'a very successful global social experiment', and it is the cover of his 2012 book.
WHERE IT STANDS
Hoax / fake. Passed off as unexplained, then exposed or confessed.
STATUS IS OUR CURRENT ASSESSMENT, NOT A VERDICT · REVIEWED 5 OCT 2026
THE RECORD
- DATE
- 2011
- PLACE
- Poirino, south-east of Turin · Piedmont · Italy
- MADE BY
- Francesco Grassi
- TYPE
- Messages & codes
- TECHNICAL
- Wheat · star-centred wheel · June 2011 (aerials circulated from 20 June) · beside the Turin–Piacenza motorway
