Marconi itinerary in Bologna and surroundings

Main residence of the Marconi family since mid-19th century. In Villa Griffone Guglielmo Marconi set up his first workshop and completed his first experiments in wireless telegraphy (1895). The Mausoleum of Guglielmo Marconi beneath it was designed by the architect Marcello Piacentini. The entire complex is a national monument. At the scientist's death, in 1937, the villa became the seat of the Marconi Foundation, set up in 1938 to keep the memory of the great inventor alive. Integral parts of the asset of the foundation are the Library and the Archive with numerous Marconian funds. The Villa also houses the Marconi Museum, dedicated to the origins and development of radio communications.

photo Villa Griffone - archivio FGM

In the most beloved church by the people of Bologna, with its unfinished façade, a treasure trove of works of art including a 17th century sundial, the scientist's solemn funeral took place in 1937.

A plaque on the façade of the building recalls that here is the house where Guglielmo Marconi was born on 25th April 1874, the first man "who spoke from one hemisphere to the other without the use of cables and wires.

The building is a work by Carlo Francesco Dotti and Francesco Tadolini. In 1877 it became the seat of the School of Engineering which gave the thirty-year-old Guglielmo Marconi an honorary degree in 1904. In the archive the documents produced by local public offices from the Middle Ages to the present day are stored.

In the first Bologna University building, which currently houses a city library, Guglielmo Marconi gave a speech in 1926 at the ceremony for the 30th anniversary of wireless telegraphy.

This museum, the heart of the Genus Bononiae Museum system, is dedicated to local history and culture and the transformations of Bologna from the Etruscan Felsina to the present time. Room 28, dedicated to “Marconi and Modern Industry”, recalls the Bolognese scientist through original equipment, devices, explanatory panels, photographic material and a video.

Once owned by the noble Orsi family, the palace (XVI century) was bought in 1903 by Giuseppe Marconi and then inherited by his son Alfonso, Guglielmo's old brother.

Built by the noble Poggi family, it has been the main university building, where the Rector's office is, since 1803; it houses the university scientific collections, which include the Museum of Physics. Here's where the first meetings of the young Gugliemo with the physicist Augusto Righi were hold. The relationship with the eminent expert on electromagnetism was of some significance for the young Marconi. In this building, in the Aula Magna, Guglielmo Marconi was awarded the honorary degree in Physics from the University of Bologna in 1934.

In the outdoor garden of this building, dating back to the early XX century, a bust is dedicated to the Bolognese physicist Augusto Righi (1850-1920), who strongly supported the construction of this institute. In its "Augusto Righi" classroom Marconi opened on 5th May 1934 the Congress of the Italian Radio Industry, also attended by the Ducati factory, which was initially a manufacturer of radio sets.

Guglielmo Marconi, like his old brother Alfonso, was baptized inside this Baroque church, seat of the Bishop of Bologna.

The historic collection consists of more than 200 instruments, some of which were built and used by the great Italian physicists Antonio Pacinotti and Augusto Righi, who taught at the "Pier Crescenzi" Institute in the sixties and seventies of XIX century and did here also part of their research. On the same street, (26/28 Saragozza St.), we find Albergati Palace where the Marconi family lived in 1904.

The Renato Dall'Ara City Stadium dates back to 1927, when it was inaugurated and named Littoriale by Benito Mussolini. When an honorary degree in physics was conferred on  Guglielmo Marconi by the University of Bologna on 5th May 1934, he went to the Littoriale to inaugurate the Bologna Fair together with the Podestà Manaresi.

This exhibition, unique in its kind, consists of more than 2000 original and still working pieces, which document history of communication from 18th century to the present day. Original signed pieces by Marconi and Marconian memorabilia are on display in the Marconi Room of the museum.

The museum documents, displays and tells the economic and manufacturing history of the city and its territory from the Modern to the Contemporary Age. The ground floor houses the “Learning Machine” section dedicated to the history of technical education and technological progress of Bologna in XIX and XX century through explanatory panels, devices, instruments, and photographs that are evidence of the climate of scientific progress in which Guglielmo Marconi was formed.

The former monastery of the Carthusian monks of San Girolamo is one of the oldest cemeteries in Europe, dating back to the beginning of 19th century. Here is the tomb of the Marconi family (VIIth Cloister, Southern portico, tomb n. 118) where Gugliemo was buried by his father Giuseppe's side. Here he remained until the Mausoleum at Villa Griffone in Sasso Marconi was completed.

Bologna International Airport was named after Guglielmo Marconi in 1978. On the second floor, in the circular area at the entrance of the Bologna Business Lounge, a bronze statue by Marco Marchesini (1980) depicts the Bolognese scientist and three panels illustrate the fame of the inventor of wireless technology.