San Pietro Vernotico, ITL being encounter — January 11, 1963

This encounter belongs to San Pietro Vernotico in Puglia, southern Italy, rather than Sardinia as the imported regional abbreviation suggests. Antonio De Luca, a farmer aged forty-three in the fuller account, reportedly noticed disturbed animals and a luminous object close to his home during January 1963. Published versions disagree about the exact day, with January 11, 13 and 14 appearing in the source trail. De Luca described a small disc with a dome and green light. Dark figures could allegedly be seen moving inside its translucent upper section. He felt unable to approach while the object remained nearby, and said it eventually departed toward Brindisi. The imported catalogue gives two figures and a diameter of roughly four and a half metres; some later measurements are inconsistent. Flying Saucer Review’s July–August 1963 issue supplies an early published source, while later Italian reporting revisits the case. Neither the alleged occupants’ faces nor a biological identity were established. The illustration therefore shows De Luca, the illuminated craft and two unresolved silhouettes inside its dome; its month-only caption preserves the date uncertainty.