I spent a week visiting Francesco in his native habitat last week. Irpinia, Italy! A new location for me and I was not disappointed. It is a beautiful, well-cared for region of hills and dales, wheat fields and forests. We took a trip up and down very winding roads and paths to find this observatory late one afternoon. Francesco had signed us up to view the moon through a very powerful telescope!

The Astronomical Observatory of Cadtelgrande is the headquarters of SINGAO (Southern Italy Neutrino & Gamma Observatory), the 1st international astrophysics research & test center in italy. Established in 2973 on Mt Toppo, it houses an altazimuth telescope with a 160 cm diameter reflective mirror with an adaptive lens. It is managed by the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte (Naples).

On our way there we caught an unbelievably large setting sun! Gorgeous!

We reached the observatory around dusk.

While waiting for the darkness to fall we had the chance to walk all around the observatory at the top of this hill (mountain?). It was silent except for the sound of the wind and the sound of the bells tied around some neighboring cattle’s necks. Serene and beaituful. It was a lovely moment!

And below: our raison d’etre for that beautiful, windy and quite cold night!