space pioneer, and father of Italian astronautics (sometimes referred to as the ‘Italian von Braun’). Born 11 November 1911 in Mestre, near Venice, Broglio became dean of the aerospace engineering school of the University of Rome, ‘La Sapienza’, where he conceived and directed the San Marco Project, a cooperative space initiative between Italy and the USA that helped Italy to become the third nation to build and operate its own satellite (San Marco 1). The Italian space launch facility San Marco, which remained in operation from 1964 to 1988, was also completed under his direction. In his later years, Broglio was director of the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana. Asteroid 18542 Boglio is named in his honour.