Italy on the internet: the way to the future passes through Fucino Space Centre

As the world held its breath over Chernobyl, Pisa connected to the American network for the first time. Using Telespazio antennas. The sixth episode in the “A Space Story” series. 

12 April 2021

Six p.m. on the 30th of April 1986, at the CNUCE offices in Via di Santa Maria, in Pisa. Information systems technician Antonio Blasco Bonito types in “Ping”, and in less than a second, a reply is received from the United States: “OK”. This apparently unexciting conversation between machines marks a true milestone, as Italy officially becomes the fourth country in Europe to connect to the American Arpanet network, soon to be known as the Internet.

The satellite dish of the "Fucino Space Center" used to transmit the signal to the Intelsat V satellite and ensure the Arpanet connection between the United States and Italy.

On that Spring afternoon, the last piece of the puzzle that Bonito had been putting together with Luciano Lenzini and Stefano Trumpy over the course of six years was finally put in place. Connecting the computer in Pisa to the US network required preparation of a complex infrastructure capable of conveying a message to the other side of the world.

That Ping from the CNUCE travelled over a telephone cable belonging to SIP, which was Italy’s national telephone company at the time, to the Italcable station in Acilia. From there, it was redirected to the Fucino Space Centre, where a Telespazio antenna that is still in operation shot it off to the satellite Intelsat V and from there to its final destination, the Comsat station in Roaring Creek, Pennsylvania.

But this important milestone in history went entirely unnoticed at the time. The eyes of the world, and the media, were all on the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, where one of the most serious accidents in history had taken place only four days earlier.

Unfortunate timing. And that’s not all. “Nobody understood what this really meant”, the three scientists commented several decades later. They themselves had no way of knowing “how much the Internet would change the world”. How do we know? It never even occurred to them to take a picture immortalising the moment.

Other News & Stories

08.09.2025
The Lario Space Centre hosts the third edition of LarioSpace

Astronauts, executives and space industry experts will gather on September 11–12 for LarioSpace 2025, an international event on innovation and technologies in the New Space Economy, hosted at Telespazio’s Lario Space Centre on Lake Como.

07.08.2025
Towards the Digital Twin of Italian Soil

Leonardo, through e-GEOS, a company owned by the Italian Space Agency (20%) and Telespazio (80%), will support the Department for Sustainable Development (DiSS) of the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) in the development of a Digital Twin of the Italian territory. The initiative falls under PNRR investment M2C4 I.1.1, which focuses on the development of an advanced monitoring and forecasting system. This high-resolution digital model of the terrain, built using airborne laser surveys (LiDAR) and aerogravimetric data, will serve as a strategic asset for understanding the morphology of the land and will lay the foundation for future Digital Twins capable of simulating and further studying its behaviour.

31.07.2025
U-ELCOME: Hospital Drugs Delivered by Drones Take Off in Abruzzo

The operational phase of the drone-based hospital drug delivery service officially launched today in Abruzzo. The initiative is part of the European U-ELCOME project (U-space European COMmon dEpLoyment), co-funded by the Horizon programme, and aims to foster the widespread adoption of U-space services in European airspace, enabling safe and coordinated operations alongside traditional aircraft.

24.07.2025
Telespazio successfully completes the LEOP of EUMETSAT’s MTG-S1 weather satellite

Telespazio has successfully completed the LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) operations for the MTG-S1 weather satellite of EUMETSAT, launched on July 1st from Cape Canaveral.

08.09.2025
The Lario Space Centre hosts the third edition of LarioSpace

Astronauts, executives and space industry experts will gather on September 11–12 for LarioSpace 2025, an international event on innovation and technologies in the New Space Economy, hosted at Telespazio’s Lario Space Centre on Lake Como.

07.08.2025
Towards the Digital Twin of Italian Soil

Leonardo, through e-GEOS, a company owned by the Italian Space Agency (20%) and Telespazio (80%), will support the Department for Sustainable Development (DiSS) of the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) in the development of a Digital Twin of the Italian territory. The initiative falls under PNRR investment M2C4 I.1.1, which focuses on the development of an advanced monitoring and forecasting system. This high-resolution digital model of the terrain, built using airborne laser surveys (LiDAR) and aerogravimetric data, will serve as a strategic asset for understanding the morphology of the land and will lay the foundation for future Digital Twins capable of simulating and further studying its behaviour.

31.07.2025
U-ELCOME: Hospital Drugs Delivered by Drones Take Off in Abruzzo

The operational phase of the drone-based hospital drug delivery service officially launched today in Abruzzo. The initiative is part of the European U-ELCOME project (U-space European COMmon dEpLoyment), co-funded by the Horizon programme, and aims to foster the widespread adoption of U-space services in European airspace, enabling safe and coordinated operations alongside traditional aircraft.

24.07.2025
Telespazio successfully completes the LEOP of EUMETSAT’s MTG-S1 weather satellite

Telespazio has successfully completed the LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) operations for the MTG-S1 weather satellite of EUMETSAT, launched on July 1st from Cape Canaveral.