Guglielmo Marconi: an Itinerary through the Genius’s Places

Where it all began: Marconi in Bologna

Strolling through the center of Bologna, you can stop at the places that marked Marconi’s childhood and education.
In the heart of the city, a plaque on Palazzo Orlandini commemorates the house where he was born on April 25, 1874, not far from the Cathedral of San Pietro, where he was baptized. From here begins the story of a precocious talent, raised in a Bologna animated by great scientific and cultural vitality.
In the city, Marconi attended the School of Engineering Applications, housed in today’s State Archives, which many years later, in 1904, awarded him an honorary degree, during a ceremony in the Aula Magna of Palazzo Poggi. It was in these classrooms that the curiosity was born that would lead him to one of the greatest technological revolutions of the century.
Marconi also lived in Palazzo Orsi-Marconi and later in Palazzo Albergati, now a venue that hosts temporary exhibition throughout the year.

In 1896 he moved abroad, but he returned several times to Bologna for conferences and celebrations, such as the one in 1926 at the Archiginnasio, on the thirtieth anniversary of wireless telegraphy. Immediately afterward, he went to the Littoriale, today’s Renato Dall’Ara Stadium, to inaugurate the Bologna Fair. Moreover, on May 5, 1934, the scientist opened the activities of the Italian Radio Industry Congress at the Institute of Physics of the University of Bologna.

Marconi museums and collections in Bologna

The figure of Marconi also lives on in Bologna’s museums, which preserve instruments, devices, and documents related to his scientific work.
At the Museum of the History of Bologna, inside Palazzo Pepoli, the room called “Marconi and Modern Industry” is entirely dedicated to his contribution to the development of modern industry, featuring photographs, films, and original equipment.
At the Museum of Industrial Heritage, visitors can explore the environment of technical progress in which his insights took shape, while the G. Pelagalli Museum of Communication and Multimedia dedicates a hall to him, displaying rare original pieces “signed” by Marconi and Marconian memorabilia.
In this way, Bologna preserves not only the memory of a great scientist but also that of an era when curiosity and experimentation were transforming the world.

Curiosities about Guglielmo Marconi

• A missed voyage on the Titanic: Marconi was supposed to board the Titanic in 1912 but decided at the last moment to postpone his trip. A fortunate choice, as many of the passengers did not survive the shipwreck.
• The “dispute” with Nikola Tesla: the invention of the radio was long contested between Marconi and Nikola Tesla. Only in 1943, after both had died, did the U.S. Supreme Court officially recognize Tesla’s priority on the patents — yet Marconi’s name remained synonymous with radio worldwide.
• The town that bears his name: after Marconi’s death in 1938, the municipality of Sasso Bolognese decided to change its name to Sasso Marconi, and the nearby village of Pontecchio to Pontecchio Marconi, in honor of its illustrious citizen.
• Marconi’s face on Italian currency: for decades, the image of Guglielmo Marconi accompanied the daily life of Italians. His portrait first appeared on the 100-lire coin (minted from 1974), depicted with a stylized antenna — a symbol of his inventions — and later on the 2000-lire banknote, issued in 1990 by the Bank of Italy. It was a way to remember, even through money, the man who made the world speak.