The Discovery of Gamma Ray Burst Distance and Energy and the Role of Bepposax

Gamma Ray Bursts have puzzled Astrophysicists since their discovery by chance. The two main questions arisen were: "Where are they?" and "What are they?". The difficulty to localize them was mainly related to γ-ray imaging techniques. Bepp SAX answered the first question, and now the location, the distance and the energetic of Gamma-Ray Bursts is no more a mystery. Thanks to the wealth of data now available the answer to the second one is likely in the way. The status of the knowledge and the major open points from the observational point of view are discussed.