The Astrophysical Observatory of Turin is one of the most important research institutes in the Turin and has a history that dates back to the mid-18th century.
Tradition dates back to its foundation in 1759 and to the researches for measuring the meridian arc of Turin made by father Giovanni Battista Beccaria. The king had  restored a turret placed on the roofs of a building of the central Via Po where Beccaria put his instruments.
The first real Specola was built 30 years later on the roof of the Academy of Sciences and stood there until 1822, when Giovanni Plana finished the construction of the new observatory on the west tower of Palazzo Madama.
The displacement to Pino Torinese, about 15 km away from Turin, dates back to the end of 1912 and is inextricably linked to the name of Giovanni Boccardi, the successor of Porro in 1903.

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