San Cataldo, ITL being encounter — October 7, 1978

Thirteen-year-old Giuseppe Raimondi and his aunt reportedly stopped their car near San Cataldo, Sicily, after a flat tyre on 7 October 1978. They were returning from the countryside. The fuller account attributed to Maurizio Verga says that after the tyre was changed, the vehicle would not start again. A bright silvery disc was then noticed above the car. The object was compared to an upturned plate, estimated at about twenty metres across and fifteen metres above the vehicle. A transparent area in its lower portion, described as a door or viewing opening, reportedly revealed three or four moving silhouettes. The observation lasted approximately five to ten minutes. The object then departed rapidly with a buzzing sound; another summary calls the sound a roar. The aunt was described as frightened and the boy as astonished. The Atlas supplies 16:00, while other catalogues leave the time unspecified. Patrick Gross’s source comparison reproduces Verga’s 1978 LDLN account but notes that the original magazine report and an investigation were not available to him. The silhouettes have no documented facial features, clothing or measured height. The plate therefore shows indistinct occupants through the lower opening, keeping the boy safely beside his aunt and treating the car’s failure as a reported association rather than a proven effect.