The "Officina Meccanica Pietro Sarti" was founded in 1932.
The founder of the firm, at the time just a small workshop, was a craftsman whose knowledge of precision mechanics was the result of passion and keen dedication. In 1914 "Signor Pietro", as he was familiarly called in the firm, had obtained a mechanical draughtsmanship diploma after having attended evening courses at the renowned Aldini-Valeriani Technical College of Bologna. It was a qualification which few at the time could boast having. There was plenty of work around and the workshop, whose original equipment had comprised just one center lathe, a milling machine and a drill, soon began to grow. By the early 50's it was already turning out its first telescopes and sugar mill weighing and laboratory analysis equipment, sectors in which it continued operating with increasingly advanced products up to the early 70's. Following on the crisis in the sugar milling industry and given the uncertainty of funding for astronomical research, in the mid-70's the company started to convert to other product lines focusing its activity on the then nascent numerical control technology applied to machine tools.

The mechanical structure was designed by our engineers and built item by item at the Meccanica Sarti Company of Bologna, whose skill and expertise had already been proven in the construction of the two Schmidt telescopes.
It was not an easy job. Each part had to be designed and then modified following on discussion between our astronomers and engineers, a discussion which also involved the engineers of the Meccanica Sarti who were no less capable and whose opinions were sometimes divergent. But the effort was worthwhile as in the end the result was more than excellent. The telescope before us has already been tested in the sky and has proven itself to be not only sturdy but also extremely precise in its movements, easy to manoeuvre and accurate to train.