Located near the Swiss border at 1000 meters elevation at the mountain village of Sormano in the pre-Alps, the observatory was privately funded by the Gruppo Astrofili Brianza and built in 1986.

[1] After its first light in January 1989, several amateur astronomers such as Marco Cavagna, Valter Giuliani, Piero Sicoli, Pierangelo Ghezzi, Francesco Manca, Paolo Chiavenna, Graziano Ventre and Augusto Testa have made their minor planet discoveries at the observatory using its 50-centimeter "Cavagna Telescope", a Ritchey–Chrétien astrograph.

Astronomers at Sormano have developed their own custom software to make follow-up observations of near-Earth objects such as 4179 Toutatis and 99942 Apophis.

The observatory also conducts astrometric observations, such as of the near-Earth object 2018 CY2 in February 2018, using a 0.28-meter reflector (f/10 + CCD).

[3] The Minor Planet Center credits the discovery of 344581 Albisetti directly to the Sormano Astronomical Observatory.