A new headquarters for OGS

Today, the President of the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS, Nicola Casagli, and the General Director, Paola Del Negro, met the Mayor of the Municipality of Trieste, Roberto Dipiazza, and the Councillor Serena Tonel, to discuss the possibility of finding a new headquarters for the Institute.

The most pressing and long-standing need is to find larger and more usable spaces for research activities, starting with that of the Section of Oceanography, which is currently divided between three far apart locations: the site by the sea in Santa Croce di Duino Aurisina, which is in need of major modernisation, and where the biochemistry and biology laboratories are located; the offices in Via Beirut in Trieste, where the activities of some of the Section's working groups are carried out; and finally the main site in Borgo Grotta in Sgonico, where Oceanography occupies an entire building.

The other research Sections of the Institute (Geophysics, Seismological Research Centre and Management of Maritime Infrastructures), whose activities are transversal and often closely interconnected with those of Oceanography, would also need an extension of their spaces and would have undeniable positive advantages from being located in a single and more modern building.

The Mayor's openness was very positive, as he immediately grasped the urgency and importance of OGS's request and declared his full willingness to take action to facilitate a new location for OGS in the city where it was historically founded. The origins of OGS date back to the second half of the 18th century, when, at the request of Maria Theresa of Habsburg, the Jesuits established the School of Astronomy and Navigation to meet the needs of developing maritime traffic after the proclamation of Trieste as a free port in 1719.

Further more technical meetings between OGS and the Municipality are therefore planned in the coming weeks to follow up on these plans.