Fornacette, ITL being encounter — July 13, 1966

Railway gatekeeper Camillo Faieta reported a prolonged observation beside the canal at Fornacette early on 13 July 1966. Around 2 a.m. a luminous object descended near the railway bridge, briefly glowing violet. It then rose, shifted over a small island and descended again. Its light changed through bright and dull silver, reportedly illuminating the water before becoming faint enough to suggest an outline. When the light diminished, Faieta said his transistor radio stopped transmitting. He telephoned police and approached with a signalling lamp, whose beam allegedly weakened and reddened. Against the object he saw two black forms about fifty centimetres tall. His signed-account reconstruction compares them to tubes and explicitly says he could not distinguish heads, arms or legs. That is narrower than later shorthand describing two humanoids boarding a saucer. A police officer and railway workers arrived later; Carabinieri reached the area after the object had gone. Telephone difficulties and other observations of the light were also reported. Investigators recorded three small holes and disturbed grass at the first site, while noting that prior official activity could itself explain the trampled vegetation. No burning was found. The CUN history identifies this as an early organisational investigation, with later re-examinations. Allegations about American interrogators in subsequent retellings are separate from the canal observation. The plate preserves the tiny tube-like silhouettes and unresolved luminous form rather than supplying conventional alien faces or limbs.