1996A&AS..117..475F

We report the BVR_cI_c data for 10 blazars observed in the first phase of a long-term photometric monitoring program of about 30 objects. The observations were carried out with a 0.40-m automatic imaging telescope, recently developed by our group at the Perugia University Observatory. During our period of observation 1215+303 and 1424+240 were at their highest values of magnitude, while 0754+100 and 0829+043 displayed large amplitude flares. We further report optical data of Mrk 501 during the same period in which TeV γ-rays were detected by the Whipple Observatory.