The article below was published in the daily newspaper L'Ardennais, France, page 5, on September 20, 1954.
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ROME. -- A mysterious craft crossed the sky over Rome on Saturday afternoon. It was observed for about 40 minutes by the observation station of the military command at Ciampino airfield.
According to information provided by the airfield, it was a "device" in the shape of a half-cigar, flying at a low speed at about 1,200 meters altitude. A trail of luminous smoke emerged from its narrower end.
While tracking the movements of the craft, the Ciampino observation station noted that at one point it dropped 400 meters, only to immediately regain altitude, transitioning from a horizontal to a vertical position. As the craft moved away toward the sea, the Ciampino airfield 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 it being a fireball, as no celestial body had crossed the sky over Rome during the day. The craft was first sighted at 4:45 p.m. (G.M.T.) and disappeared in a northwesterly direction at 6:28 p.m. (G.M.T.).
