Tagliacozzo, ITL being encounter — October 25, 1978

Giuseppe di Giovanni, a cattle keeper near San Donato di Tagliacozzo in the Abruzzi, reportedly encountered a small object while searching for a missing cow in 1978. He approached a brown, low, round or cylindrical body with illuminated windows and looked inside. The figures were described as miniature people rather than the large-eyed grays sometimes implied by catalogue tags. One published version describes six or seven occupants in green outfits: blond female-looking figures and darker-haired males, with some wearing conical caps. Di Giovanni reportedly became frightened, withdrew behind bushes and checked whether the object remained. It was still there, but after another interval with his eyes closed it had disappeared. Later retellings instead describe the same two figures appearing at successive windows, like repeated images, and differ over whether a departure was actually seen. The inherited entry dates the report October 25 at 5:50 p.m. Richard Hall's contemporary-style summary uses October 25 near dawn, whereas Maurizio Verga's account and cited November 15 press coverage place it on November 14 around 5 a.m. Dimensions and occupant counts also vary. The plate therefore uses Autumn 1978 and follows the multi-occupant, green-clothing version, without treating conical hats as evidence of a particular origin.