Ispra is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' and small town on the eastern coast of

Lake Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; ; ; ; literally 'greater lake') or Verbano (; ) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the largest in southern Switzerland. The lake and its shoreline are divided be ...

, in the

province of Varese The province of Varese () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese (population of 80,857 inhabitants), but its largest city is Busto Arsizio. The headquarters of AgustaWestland, the compa ...

(

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Toponymy

Attested by the name ''Ispira'' (712), ''Ispira'' (XIV). Appears as ''Ispratium'' in Aegidius Tschudi's ''Beschreibung Galliae Comatae''. According to Gaudenzio Merula the origin of the name could lie onto the rocky nature of this landscape; ''Hisprum quasi asperum ob saxorum difficultates'', that is to say equivalent to the Latin '' hispida'' (cf. '' hispid'' and '' ispido'') and related to the Provençal ''ispre'' with the "d" shifting to an "r" due to rhotacism.

Joint Research Centre

Some of the main Institutes of the

Joint Research Centre The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to European Union (EU) policy. Leadersh ...

(JRC) of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

(EC) are located there, including the

Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen The Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC), located in Ispra, Italy, is one of the seven institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission The European Commission (EC) is t ...

(IPSC), the

Institute for Environment and Sustainability The Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) used to be a specialised institute of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) directorate of the European Commission, based in Ispra, Italy. Its mission was to provide scientific and technical support ...

(IES) and the

Institute for Health and Consumer Protection The Institute for Health and Consumer Protection or IHCP, located in Ispra, Italy, is one of the seven institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission (EC). The Institute for Health and Consumer Prot ...

(IHCP), as well as the Ispra site Directorate (IS). Locally, the research establishment is referred to as the CCR (Centro Comune di Ricerca) or as EURATOM - based on its history in nuclear research. The site covers an area of , where the original presence of pines, birches, oaks and chestnut trees has partially been preserved. The site still contains a number of experimental

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

s in the process of being decommissioned.nuclear reactors
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Famous descendants

The Italian-American ballerina Enrica Soma (the mother of actress

Anjelica Huston Anjelica Huston ( ; born July 8, 1951) is an American actress, director and model. She is best known for playing Morticia Addams in the ''The Addams Family'' and '' The Addams Family Values'', as well as often portraying eccentric and distincti ...

) was born to parents who had immigrated to the U.S. from Ispra.

References

{{Varese-geo-stub

Toponymy

Joint Research Centre

Famous descendants

See also

References