In this article, we describe the architecture of the 3 m suspended Michelson interferometer prototype for gravitational wave detection which is operational in Napoli. The characteristic which makes this interferometer different from the existing ones is the digital implementation of the control system, the monitoring system, the data acquisition system, and the archiving system. This architecture makes this interferometer a good test bench for the study, the development, and the test of general techniques for the automatic control of interferometers for gravitational wave detection. In particular, it is now being used for the development and the test of some subsystems of the very long baseline interferometric VIRGO antenna for gravitational wave detection. [The Virgo Project, Final Design of the Italian–French large base interferometric antenna Virgo for gravitational wave detection of which the authors are proponents and in whose construction the Authors are collaborating (INFN, Italy, and CNRS, France, 1989, 1992, 1995).] ©1996 American Institute of Physics.