The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Quotidien de la Haute-Loire, France, on September 21, 1954.
Rome. -- A mysterious craft crossed the sky over Rome on Friday; it was observed for forty minutes by the observation station of the military command at the Ciampino airfield.
According to information provided by the airfield, it was a "craft" shaped like a "half-cigar," flying at a reduced speed at an altitude of approximately 1,500 meters. A luminous trail emanated from its narrower end. While tracking the craft's movement, the Ciampino observation station noted that it at one point dropped 400 meters before regaining altitude, shifting from a horizontal to a vertical position.
As the craft moved away toward the sea, the Ciampino station reported its presence to the military control station at Pratica Di Mare, about thirty kilometers from Rome, which managed to "pick it up" on radar and track it for about twenty minutes. The radar reportedly indicated the presence of an antenna at the center of the wider part of the half-cigar. The Monte Mario Observatory (Rome) ruled out the possibility of a meteor, as no celestial body had crossed the Roman sky during the day. The presence of the craft was noted at 4:45 p.m. (GMT), and it disappeared in the northwest direction at 6:28 p.m. (GMT).
