Tavarnuzze, ITL being encounter — May 22, 1978

Mr and Mrs Li Puma reportedly heard their two dogs barking outside their Tavarnuzze home on 22 May 1978, around 9:45 p.m. Going out, they saw two or three luminous spheres near a road bend and two cypress trees. The objects were estimated at thirty centimetres across, hovering around 1.8 metres above the ground. Their light pulsed and changed between reddish and silvery appearances. As Mr Li Puma began releasing a dog, the couple noticed two short, dark humanlike forms, one closer to the road and the other near a bush. Both wore dark red capelike coverings. A shrill, childlike voice was heard, attributed particularly to the wife in one rendering. The forms disappeared. The spheres dimmed or disappeared when a car passed, then reappeared; two vanished while another rose rapidly. The observation reportedly lasted about fifteen minutes. Maurizio Verga’s account cites Notiziario UFO for January 1979; Patrick Gross compares it with later retellings. Those versions differ over whether a figure was seen inside a sphere and whether their daughter was present. The plate follows the roadside-figure version. Mrs Li Puma reportedly saw similar lights two days later without figures. No detailed face description, investigation report or demonstrated vehicle construction was recovered.