marconi yacht elettra

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Guglielmo Marconi

By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 27, 2023 | Original: December 2, 2009

Italian inventor and engineer Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) developed, demonstrated and marketed the first successful long-distance wireless telegraph and in 1901 broadcast the first transatlantic radio signal. His company’s Marconi radios ended the isolation of ocean travel and saved hundreds of lives, including all of the surviving passengers from the sinking Titanic. In 1909 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his radio work.

Guglielmo Marconi’s Early Years

Guglielmo Marconi was born in 1874 in Bologna, Italy. His father was a wealthy landowner and his mother was a member of Ireland’s Jameson family of distillers. Marconi was educated by tutors and at the Livorno Technical Institute and the University of Bologna.

Did you know? In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi—who was much more a tinkering engineer than a scientist—freely admitted he didn't really understand how his invention worked.

In 1894 Marconi became fascinated with the discovery by German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz of “invisible waves” generated by electromagnetic interactions. Marconi built his own wave-generating equipment at his family’s estate and was soon sending signals to locations a mile away. After failing to interest the Italian government in his work, Marconi decided to try his luck in London.

Guglielmo Marconi in England

The 22-year-old Marconi and his mother arrived in England in 1896 and quickly found interested backers, including the British Post Office. Within a year Marconi was broadcasting up to 12 miles and had applied for his first patents. A year later, he set up a wireless station on the Isle of Wight that allowed Queen Victoria to send messages to her son Prince Edward aboard the royal yacht.

By 1899 Marconi’s signals had crossed the English Channel. The same year, Marconi traveled to the United States, where he gained publicity offering wireless coverage of the America’s Cup yacht race from off the coast of New Jersey.

Guglielmo Marconi and the Transatlantic “S”

Marconi began to work on improving his wireless for a transatlantic broadcast. Many physicists argued that radio waves traveled in straight lines, making it impossible for signals to be broadcast beyond the horizon, but Marconi believed they would follow the planet’s curvature. (In fact, the waves do travel in straight lines but bounce off the ionosphere, approximating a curve.) After failed attempts to receive a signal from England on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Marconi decided to try a shorter distance, from Cornwall to Newfoundland.

The radio signal broadcast from Poldhu, Cornwall, was as powerful as Marconi’s team could make it—at full power, the equipment sent out sparks a foot long. Some 2,100 miles away, atop Signal Hill in St. John’s, Marconi attached an antenna first to a balloon, which blew away, and then to a kite on a 500-foot tether. On December 12, 1901, he picked up a faint three-dot sequence—the Morse Code letter “s.”

Guglielmo Marconi, the Nobel Prize and Titanic

In 1909 Marconi shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with the German physicist Karl F. Braun, the inventor of the cathode ray tube. Marconi’s accolades were not without controversy: many other men had claims (some dubious, some not) to the “Father of Radio” title. As early as 1895, the Russian physicist Alexander Popov was broadcasting between buildings, while in India Jagdish Chandra Bose was using radio waves to ring bells and trigger explosions. In 1901 the Serbian-American electrical pioneer Nikola Tesla said he had developed a wireless telegraph in 1893; in 1943 the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated four Marconi radio patents, citing Tesla’s prior work.

As shipping companies realized the radio telegraph’s usefulness for passenger communication, navigation reports and distress signals, Marconi Company radios—operated by trained cadres of “Marconi Men”—became standard equipment. When RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, its Marconi operator was able to summon RMS Carpathia to the scene to pick up 700 survivors.

Guglielmo Marconi’s Later Years and Legacy

For the next two decades, Marconi continued refining his inventions, experimenting with shortwave broadcasts and testing transmission distances aboard his 700-ton yacht, Elettra. He returned to Italy, became a supporter of Benito Mussolini and annulled his first marriage—to an Irish artist with whom he had four children—to wed an Italian noblewoman. In 1935 he toured Brazil and Europe defending Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia. He died two years later of a heart attack in Rome. In his honor, radio stations in America, England and Italy broadcast several minutes of silence.

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Lost Yacht of Italian Scientist to Be Recreated

By Sarah Lyall

• July 17, 1988

The inventor of the wireless telegraph, Guglielmo Marconi, so adored his research ship that he named a daughter after her - Elettra -instead of the other way around. But the ship, which the scientist used as home and laboratory, was destroyed in World War II, and a piece of Mr. Marconi's history was lost with it.

Now, however, a group in Italy and the United States is building a replica of the Elettra, as a floating museum whose maiden voyage will take her to New York Harbor in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's first trip to the New World.

The ship, to be called the Elettra II, will be a near-exact reconstruction of the original, containing many of Mr. Marconi's documents and equipment, with a modern research laboratory and engine power that will allow her to travel around the world.

It was aboard the original Elettra, which Mr. Marconi bought in 1919, that the scientist explored short-wave radio and radar, perfecting the process he used in 1901 when he sent the first Morse Code letter, a faint ''S,'' across the Atlantic Ocean. (The S traveled from England to Newfoundland, and took three days to arrive). Source of Electrical Impulses

It was from the ship, too, that in 1930 Mr. Marconi sent out electrical impulses from Genoa, Italy, that lighted the Municipal Building in Sydney, Australia, 14,000 miles away.

And it was aboard the traveling Elettra that Mr. Marconi, born in Bologna, Italy, in 1874, and winner of the Nobel prize for Physics at the age of 35, lived as an international man whose work was his life.

''My father loved the sea and loved the yacht Elettra,'' said the ship's namesake, Princess Elettra Marconi Giovanelli, who lives in Rome and was in New York this week raising money for the project. In conversation, she always refers to the boat as the yacht Elettra, so there is no confusion. ''It was so beautiful, narrow with a lovely prow,'' she said.

In Washington, the Smithsonian Institution plans to link an exhibit on the information revolution to the Elettra II with a ham radio to allow communication between ship and museum. It is also planning a traveling exhibit to go with the Elettra as she sails. Construction Set for October

According to estimates, the ship will cost $30 million to build, $10 million of which has been raised in Italy, the project's organizers said. It is being designed by Franco Anselmi Boretti, a Florentine who in 1973 designed a boat for Adnan Khashoggi (not, however, the boat recently bought by Donald Trump).

''I feel very emotional, bringing to life something that was so badly destroyed,'' Mr. Boretti said.

The boat has been designed, after more than a year of research. In October, construction will begin at La Spezia, a shipyard in Ligurnia, the home province of Christopher Columbus.

Gioia Marconi Braga, another of Mr. Marconi's children, said the scientist continued Columbus's work because, ''My father brought the continents together.'' Mr. Marconi died in 1937; three of his four children are still alive.

Mrs. Braga, chairwoman of the Marconi International Fellowship Council, which gives annual awards for work in communication science, recalled how, as a girl, she was barred from her father's ''office'' on Elettra, except on special occasions. Then, she would slip on headphones and hear voices from New York and Australia.

''The Elettra was more than just a pleasure craft for my father,'' she said. ''She was first and foremost his laboratory; and, the nature of his work made it essential for him to have moving targets to receive or to transmit the signals he was experimenting with.''

At a reception at the Italian Cultural Institute, on Park Avenue and 68th Street, last week, guests sipped champagne, met Mr. Marconi's daughters and admired a cake replica of the Elettra II.

''My father loved America so,'' Princess Giovanelli said.

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Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, dxing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more.

Elettra: The story of Guglielmo Marconi through his daughter Princess Elettra Marconi

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, William Lee, who notes that the radio documentary  Elettra is now available to rent (A$5.10) or download via Vimeo . Note that this program has geographic restrictions and may be limited to streaming in Australia:

ELETTRA from Ronin Films on Vimeo .

Encouraged by her friendship with Australian broadcaster, Ben Starr, the Princess opens her home and her heart to recall and relive her family’s saga. Her own story is counter-pointed by her memories of her father and all he achieved. As a girl, Elettra watched her father create magic. For her, the use of radio technology to save the?lives of the Titanic survivors and to track down criminals was just part of her father’s wizardry. He had started a revolution. Wireless became the most fabulous invention of the 19th century: the public thought it was miraculous, and leading scientists of the day could not understand how it worked. Elettra inherited the Marconi empire when she was seven years old. Having spent her life travelling the world to promote her father’s legacy, the Princess now plans to turn her crumbling family palace in Bologna into a radiant academy for the arts and science. From the gardens of enchanted villas, to the corridors of the Vatican, we peek into the cracks of a new “Dolce Vita”, where nothing is quite what it seems. For all her joyful enthusiasm, the Princess has found little support for her plan in Italy’s dysfunctional ministries and is searching far beyond. Can she make her dream come true? Click here to view the trailer on Vimeo.

6 thoughts on “ Elettra: The story of Guglielmo Marconi through his daughter Princess Elettra Marconi ”

Looks like a very interesting video. I met Elettra back in 2009 in Rome: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2009/09/meeting-princess-elettra-marconi.html

OMG – I should not attempt to post comments from the pub – in my message above… Contentment should read “content” LOL – OK now back to the beer!

This sounds interesting. Not that i would pay, but i cant even, because i live in the usa and its not available. I thought the internet was without borders, thats why we dont need shortwave anymore! Im sure there are workarounds but im getting the feeling all this ‘freedom’ is for cooporate interests, not mine.

A bit O/T, but welcome to the rest of the world – we’ve been putting up with that from US sources for years…

Back on-topic: I read Marc Raboy’s recent biography “Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World” earlier this year, and although it’s a bit of a slog – 700 or so pages, plus 100+ pages of notes & references – I can thoroughly recommend it. It’s comprehensive, quite readable & interesting, and does a good job of putting Marconi’s more troublesome aspects (to modern eyes at least e.g. his support for Mussolini) in historical context.

My only real complaint is that it occasionally gets a bit mixed up with terminology in places (mostly because some of it’s changed over the last 100 years or so!). But apart from that, it’s a good read, and probably the most thorough story of Marconi’s life & inventions yet published.

At the risk of being very off-topic, yes RonF is so right!

The USA has so many restrictions on IP contentment access that here at Freemans Reach I run two WiFi networks in my house. One in located in Australia ( where I live) and the other network pretends to be in Harrisburg PA (via a proxy service and DNS system) so I can access USA content that is blocked from the rest of the world. Without the PA based network most of the USA television, radio and media website content I would want to access would be blocked from me. My fav action is KROQ in LA, without pretending to be in the USA I have no access.

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Guglielmo Marconi

• 1 Biography
• 2 Professional Honors
• 3 Photo Gallery
• 4 Further Reading

Marconi was born in Italy in 1874 to Giuseppe and Annie Jameson Marconi. His father was a prosperous Italian landowner and his mother was from a wealthy Irish family of whiskey distillers. Because Marconi applied himself only in the subjects that he was fascinated by--physics and chemistry--he dropped out of several schools and was largely educated by private tutors in at the family's residences in Livorno and Bologna, Italy. In 1894, after reading articles about electromagnetic, or radio, waves, and Heinrich Hertz 's death, he began thinking about building a device to transmit long and short bursts of radio waves over long distances. He understood that this method of communication would be faster than telegraphy and less cumbersome because no wires would be involved.

His parents let him use the upper floor of their Bologna home, Villa Griffone, as a laboratory. Over the summer and fall of 1895, Marconi duplicated Hertz’s short-range experiments and then succeeded in sending signals over longer distances he took his ideas and equipment to London, where William Preece, chief engineer of the British Post Office, supported his continuing experiments and demonstrations. Marconi eventually raised money privately and established the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company in London.

By 1899 Marconi was constructing wireless stations on both sides of the English Channel and in 1901 he installed transmitters powerful enough to send messages across the Atlantic. The following year he established a company in New York. He lived a transatlantic existence, working in both Europe and the United States.

Marconi was widely recognized for his work in his own time. In 1909 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Grateful Titanic survivors presented him with a gold medal in recognition of his work in radio , which helped save their lives in the 1912 disaster. Marconi and his wireless stations were illustrated on dozens of different cards sold with packs of cigarettes, and he had at least two brands of cigars named after him.

Unlike many other radio pioneers, Marconi was a savvy businessman. He went to great lengths to control his own patents as well as those of others in the field. By 1912 the Marconi Company essentially controlled the global wireless communications industry. This virtual monopoly led to corruption charges in the effort to build communications networks across Europe.

Having a longtime passion for the sea and the intellectual solitude that it offered, in 1919 Marconi bought a yacht and renamed it Elettra ("Amber," a natural spark generator). A state-of-the-art floating laboratory, Elettra became the site of his research breakthrough in the early 1920s on shortwave, or high frequency, radio transmission. This finally made long-distance wireless commercially competitive with cable telegraphy and greatly expanded the communications capacity of the earth's electromagnetic spectrum. Besides his research, Marconi also hosted many parties aboard the ship, with guests ranging from laboratory assistants to royalty.

In addition to his scientific and business interests, Marconi retained his loyalty to his native country, establishing wireless networks in Italy's imperial expansion in Libya in 1911-12, and serving militarily and politically during World War I. He undertook many diplomatic missions as a government representative, serving as a member of the Italian War Commission to the U.S. Government and delegate to the Peace Conference in Paris in 1919. In 1923 he became a member of Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party in 1923, which he supported for the rest of his life.

Marconi died in 1937. The day after his death wireless operators and broadcasters around the world shut down their transmitters for two minutes of global radio silence.

Professional Honors

Marconi was elected an honorary member of the Institute of Radio Engineers, one of IEEE's precursors, on August 14, 1917. Among the many honors he received were the Nobel Prize for physics in 1909; the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts; and the 1932 Kelvin Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers. The Italian government decorated him with the Italian order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus and the Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy. In 1915 he was nominated Senatore of the Kingdom of Italy. In the United States, he received the Franklin Institute's Franklin medal, the American Association of Engineering Societies' John Fritz medal, and the Medal of Honor of the Institute of Radio Engineers .

Photo Gallery

Guglielmo Marconi and George Kemp

Marconi with his radio equipment on the Elettra , c. 1930

Marconi on the Elettra

Marconi with Pope

Marconi at Poldhu

Further Reading

Papers of Guglielmo Marconi - correspondence and articles, 1929 - 1937

Marc Raboy, Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World (2016).

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Resting Place of Keel from Marconi’s Floating Lab Elettra to be “Museum Ships” Event Site

The resting place of the keel from wireless pioneer Guglielmo Marconi’s floating laboratory — the yacht Elettra — will be the site of a special event in conjunction with the annual Museum Ships Weekend Event , June 3-4, sponsored by the Battleship New Jersey Amateur Radio Station NJ2BB .

Marconi named his youngest daughter after the Elettra , which means “electron” in Italian.

The Elettra special event, under the sponsorship of the Guglielmo Marconi Foundation, will use the call sign IQ4FE. The Elettra operation will be part of a technical-cultural event at Villa Griffone, near Marconi’s birthplace in Bologna, Italy. Members of the Italian Amateur Radio Association (ARI) Fidenza Radio Club will operate from the vicinity of the Marconi Museum in Pontecchio, where the vessel’s keel is kept. — Thanks to Cristiano Cornini, IW4CLV, ARI Fidenza Radio Club President

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Guglielmo Marconi

(1874-1937)

Who Was Guglielmo Marconi?

Guglielmo Marconi was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and inventor credited with the groundbreaking work necessary for all future radio technology. Through his experiments in wireless telegraphy, Marconi developed the first effective system of radio communication. In 1899, he founded the Marconi Telegraph Company. In 1901, he successfully sent wireless signals across the Atlantic Ocean, disproving the dominant belief of the Earth's curvature affecting transmission. Marconi shared with Karl Braun the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics. He died in Rome in 1937.

Early Life and Education

Born on April 25, 1874, in Bologna, Italy, into a wealthy family, and educated largely at home, Guglielmo Marconi possessed a strong interest in science and electricity. In 1894, he began experimenting with radio waves as a student at the Livorno Technical Institute. Incorporating the earlier scientific work of Heinrich Hertz and Oliver Lodge in electromagnetic radiation, he was able to develop a basic system of wireless telegraphy. Though not a scientist, Marconi recognized the value of wireless technology and was adept in putting the right people together to invest in it. In 1897 he received his first patent in England.

Groundbreaking Work and Nobel Prize

Marconi founded the London-based Marconi Telegraph Company in 1899. Though his original transmission traveled a mere mile and a half, on December 12, 1901, Marconi sent and received the first wireless message across the Atlantic Ocean, from Cornwall, England, to a military base in Newfoundland. His experiment was significant, as it disproved the dominant belief of the Earth's curvature affecting transmission.

Beginning in 1902, Marconi worked on experiments that stretched the distance that wireless communication could travel, until he was finally able to establish transatlantic service from Glace Bay in Nova Scotia, Canada, to Clifden, Ireland. For his work with wireless communication, Marconi shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Braun in 1909. Not long after, Marconi's wireless system was used by the crew of the RMS Titanic to call for assistance.

Marconi held several positions in the Italian Army and Navy during World War I, starting the war as a lieutenant in 1914 and finishing as a naval commander. He was sent on diplomatic missions to the United States and France. After the war, Marconi began experimenting with basic short wave radio technology. On his beloved yacht, Elettra , he conducted experiments in the 1920s proving the efficacy of the "beam system" for long-distance communication. (The next step would lead to microwave transmission.) By 1926, Marconi's "beam system" had been adopted by the British government as a design for international communication.

In addition to his groundbreaking research in wireless communication, Marconi was instrumental in establishing the British Broadcasting Company, formed in 1922. He was also involved in the development of radar.

Later Years and Death

Marconi continued to experiment with radio technology in his native Italy until his death, on July 20, 1937, in Rome, from heart failure.

In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that some of his patents’ source of discovery was questionable and as a result restored some prior patents to other scientists, including Oliver Lodge and Nikola Tesla, predated some of his findings. The Court’s decision had no effect on Marconi’s claim that he was the first to produce radio transmission, he just couldn’t claim credit for their work.

Personal Life

Marconi married for the first time in 1905, to Beatrice O'Brien, the daughter of Edward Donough O'Brien, 14th Baron Inchiquin. He and Beatrice had three children—a son, Giulio, and two daughters, Degna and Gioia—before their union was annulled in 1927. That same year, Marconi wed Countess Bezzi-Scali of Rome, with whom he had one daughter, Elettra, named after his yacht.

In his spare time, Marconi reportedly enjoyed cycling, motoring and hunting.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Guglielmo Marconi
• Birth Year: 1874
• Birth date: April 25, 1874
• Birth City: Bologna
• Birth Country: Italy
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Through his experiments in wireless telegraphy, Nobel Prize-winning physicist/inventor Guglielmo Marconi developed the first effective system of radio communication.
• World War I
• Technology and Engineering
• Business and Industry
• Science and Medicine
• Astrological Sign: Taurus
• Nacionalities
• Interesting Facts
• Guglielmo Marconi's wireless system was used by the crew of the Titanic to call for assistance.
• Guglielmo Marconi was also involved in the development of radar.
• In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Guglielmo Marconi's radio patent invalid because work by other scientists, including Nikola Tesla, predated some of his findings.
• Guglielmo Marconi's only child with Countess Bezzi-Scali of Rome, daughter Elettra, was named after his yacht.
• Death Year: 1937
• Death date: July 20, 1937
• Death City: Rome
• Death Country: Italy

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Guglielmo Marconi Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/inventors/guglielmo-marconi
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: January 22, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
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Object of This Document

To record the contribution that the companies that came together under the Marconi banner made to the history of electronics while those that had first hand experience of that contribution are still alive. In addition, to record the stories and anecdotes and sadly the obituaries of those people who supported that contribution.

The wiki format is chosen to allow the addition and modification of the text by suitably experienced contributors.

After a phase of initial preparation the site will be exposed to the public and to the search engines of the internet, thus disseminating the fascinating history of The Company to those who will appreciate it.

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The marconi story, photo courtesy of bart maguire.

GUGLIELMO MARCONI    (1874-1937)

“There have been three great moments in my life as an inventor. One when my early wireless signals rang a bell at the other side of the room in which I was carrying out my experiment; the second when the signals from my station at Poldhu in Cornwall found response in the telephone receiver I was holding to my ear at St. John’s, Newfoundland, 1800 miles away over the Atlantic; and today when I quietly contemplate the possibilities of the future and feel that my life’s work has provided a sure foundation on which the workers of today and tomorrow may build.”

[Guglielmo Marconi – December 1935]

The peaceful revolution of Radio, or wireless communication as it was once called radically changed society in the modern world. Guglielmo Marconi was the pioneer of this revolution: his system of wireless telegraphy which was developed in 1895 marked the beginning of Radio communications. Thanks to his extraordinary skill at combining outstanding technical know-how and business acumen, Marconi was able to dedicate his life to the development of his invention and gradually send his radio messages ever further afield.

The pioneering phase of Radio communications ended with the first transatlantic radiotelegraphic transmission at the beginning of the twentieth century. The opening of the Clifden station in October 1907 allowed Marconi to fulfil his most ambitious goal: the setting up of a regular communications bridge between the two shores of the Old Continent and the New.

Two years later, at the age of thirty five Marconi was awarded The Nobel Prize for Physics. Marconi was the living symbol of Radio communications and his extraordinary career lasted forty years, until death in Rome in 1937.

ABOUT GUGLIELMO MARCONI

Guglielmo Marconi was born in Bologna on 25th April 1874. His father, Giuseppe, was a rich landowner and his mother, Annie Jameson, was one of the four daughters of Andrew Jameson of County Wexford, the well-known and wealthy distiller of Jameson’s Irish whiskey. The young Marconi spent long periods in England and Tuscany with his mother and brother Alfonso and for this reason he didn’t regularly attend school. He had private lessons but preferred to cultivate his scientific interests. When he was 16 he set up a laboratory in the attic of his father’s house (Villa Griffone in Pontecchio near Bologna) where he started his first experiments with electricity.

In 1892 he embarked on his first important scientific project to try to design a new type of battery for the international competition, with a 2000 lire prize, promoted by the technical journal “L’Elettricità” to which he had a subscription.

Documents from the period, family papers and Marconi’s early notebooks, demonstrate the young aspiring inventor’s ambition and determination. Reading matter, his subscription to the illustrated weekly magazine “L’Elettricità”, documents regarding purchases of materials for experiments and private lessons in scientific subjects are all elements that paint a picture of the development of an “ardent amateur student of electricity” (as Marconi described himself in his first interview given in London in 1897) and that at the age of 20 lay the foundations for the beginning of radio communications. Indeed from 1894 he dedicated himself to developing the idea of using electromagnetic waves for “wireless” communication and with this objective in mind he worked even more intensely in his laboratory in Villa Griffone achieving important results the following year.

Following the discovery of electromagnetic waves by Heinrich Hertz in 1888, several European researchers investigated this new phenomenon. The most famous among them were Oliver Lodge, Edouard Branly and Augusto Righi. They carried out important experiments inside their laboratories, whereas Marconi took the waves outside his laboratory with the intention of transmitting signals over ever-greater distances.

In the summer of 1895 he succeeded in sending a signal to a distance of 2km. In those experiments the transmitter of Marconi’s first system of wireless telegraphy was placed in the garden of Villa Griffone and the receiver was on the other side of a natural obstacle, the Celestini Hill, which could be clearly seen from the window in his laboratory. The famous gun shot fired by one of Marconi’s assistants to confirm the reception of the signal demonstrated that the system could work even in the presence of natural obstacles. This initial success convinced the young inventor of the potential of radiotelegraphy and to develop this potential he decided, in agreement with his family, to move to London.

On various occasions Marconi denied the presumed indifference of the Italian authorities to his invention, explaining that it was a natural choice for his family to move to England due to the family connections he knew he could count on in what was the most advanced industrialised nation of the period. This information which had circulated with a certain persistence has remained part of the legend created around Marconi. Due to their activities the Jamesons had strong ties with important groups of London entrepreneurs. In particular Henry Jameson Davis, an engineer specialised in the design of windmills, was intrigued by his young cousin’s wireless equipment and believed that it was vital to present it to the right people.

In February 1896 Marconi moved to England and with the support of his Irish relatives (especially Henry Jameson Davis), he followed two important objectives: to ensure that his invention received legal and scientific recognition and to find the best conditions to exploit his radiotelegraphy system commercially.

Among his first contacts, and of extreme importance, was that with William Preece, the powerful Chief Engineer of the General Post Office, who after the first meeting with the young inventor, offered to Marconi the support of the GPO, in terms of physical facilities and technical assistance. Moreover, in September and in December of the same year Preece gave the first public presentations of Marconi’s invention: these events were widely reported and commented on in many newspapers and technical magazines.

In the same year Marconi filed the world’s first patent application for a system of wireless telegraphy (under the title “Improvements in Transmitting Electrical Impulses and Signals, and in Apparatus Therefore”). The complete specification was submitted in March 1897, and it was accepted three months later. This was a fundamental step and he was helped by the best patent agents available at the time.

In July 1897 the patent was transferred to the newly established The Wireless Telegraphy and Signal Company (later to be renamed Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Co. ). Marconi was appointed the technical director, and together with Jameson Davis he secured control of the majority of the shares.

Seven of the new partners of the Company were Irish corn merchants. This confirmed the importance of the inventor’s family contacts. Although this line of business did not involve advanced, electricity related technologies, it was certainly dependent on fast and reliable systems of communication.

Marconi’s wireless telegraphy certainly was expected to follow that direction.

The Royal St George Yacht Club in Kingstown (now Dùn Laoghaire) was due to hold its annual regatta in July 1898 and the Dublin Daily Express and his sister paper Evening Mail decided to commemorate the centenary of the latter by reporting the yachting results by wireless – the very first of its kind.

During the Kingstown regatta (July 20-22 nd , 1898) Marconi was on a tugboat to monitor the yacht races and sent wireless messages back to the harbour (where he had installed his land station) and from there they were decoded and forwarded by telephone to the Dublin newspapers for publication. During the two-day event more than 700 messages were transmitted across distances ranging from 16 to 40 km in order to give the newspaper information on the progress and the result of each race well ahead of its rivals.

It became what many believe to have been the first ‘live’ transmission of a sporting event in the world: it was a spectacular success and established Marconi as the leading figure in this new field of commercial communications.

During this period Marconi and his collaborators had to solve numerous technical problems especially the problem of interference between two stations that were working simultaneously. The problem regarding tuning was at least partially resolved when in 1900 the Marconi Wireless Company patented a device, even though the tuning problems continued for years.

Marconi’s main objective was above all to increase the distance of communication. During the summer of 1897 the transmissions reached 18 km. Then in 1899 they first reached 50km (in the first radio telegraphic transmission across the Channel). Marconi then exceeded 100 km (between equipment installed on the liner ship St. Paul and the Needles station on the Island of Wight). The distance was tripled at the beginning of 1901 (from Niton on the Isle of Wight to the Lizard Station, in Cornwall), and was farther increased in June (360 km, from Poldhu in Cornwall to the Crookhaven station, in the extreme south-west tip of Ireland). That same year was to prove really extraordinary for the 27–year-old inventor of wireless telegraphy.

Before the invention of radiotelegraphy ships were isolated at sea. The first fundamental use of Marconi’s invention was at sea. Marconi Radio Officers first went to sea in merchant ships in 1900 and for almost a century they provided the vital link between ship and shore.

Over the years the number of people saved at sea due to radiotelegraphy increased remarkably. In January 1909, for example, all the passengers and crew (over 1500) on board the Liner Republic which was shipwrecked off the North American coast were saved.

The most famous episode was that of the Titanic in April 1912. Among the victims of the disaster (about1500) was Jack Phillips, the senior radio operator, who was twenty-six years old and had already served on a number of liners as well as at the Clifden station. Those who survived (just over seven hundred) owed their lives to the wireless distress calls sent by Phillips. Among the many CQD and SOS messages that were sent was the sad confirmation sent by Phillips to his friend Harold Cottam, the operator on the Carpathia: “Yes. It’s a CQD, old man. We have hit a berg and we are sinking.” (The CQD message was still used by the Marconi Company Operators as a distress signal) .

These dramatic episodes aroused a great deal of interest in the media of the period and lead to a notable increase in marine radio services across the world.

Another distinctive episode linked to the use of wireless telegraphy at sea hit the front pages of the newspapers in July 1910 after the dramatic arrest of the notorious murderer Dr Crippen, and his mistress Ethel Le Neve, following a wireless message from SS Montrose to Scotland Yard. In one of the many newspaper comments wireless telegraphy was called “the invisible agent”. The role played by Marconi wireless in Dr Crippen’s arrest was a sensation, certainly another triumph for the new technology.

The passage from Radio telegraphic transmissions to Radio broadcasting was possible thanks to the advances in amplification techniques developed by the Englishman John Ambrose Fleming (inventor of diode valve in 1904), and the American Lee De Forest (inventor of the audion – triode valve in 1906). These techniques revolutionized Radio communications in the first half of the twentieth century, making broadcasting possible and later becoming essential for radio and radar systems, television and telephones until the advent of the transistor in 1948.

It was Reginald Aubrey Fessenden who, in 1906, performed the first Radiotelephony experiments by sending waves into the ether that were no longer only Morse code signals but complete sound signals. In the following years several technical devices were produced in this new field and, at the end of the World War I, all the components which were to make broadcasting possible were already in existence. An important moment was the transmission of the first Radiobroadcast concert, performed by the famous soprano Dame Nellie Melba on 15 June 1920, from the Marconi station in Chelmsford.

During the 1920’s broadcasting developed quickly and the radio as a means of mass communication came into being. The English BBC was born in 1922, and the first great American companies such as NBC and CBS were created. During those years Marconi kept up his experimental activity which produced important results for the new fields of Radio communications.  Part of his experimental work in the 1920’s and the early thirties was carried out on board the yacht Elettra which he had bought in 1919.  The Elettra was often Marconi’s floating home and laboratory, and was witness to many important experiments concerning short waves and from 1931, micro waves.

Marconi’s success in long distance communication was based on the use of ever longer waves. However, during World War I he returned to the investigation of short waves, which he had used in his first experiments, and recognized their possible advantages, showing once again his flexibility and pragmatism.

Marconi’s long career was suddenly interrupted, ended by his death in Rome on 20th July 1937.  A two-minute silence of wireless stations throughout the world was observed as a fitting tribute to his massive contribution in conquering the airwaves. In those two minutes the ether returned to silence as it was before Marconi’s invention. It was an extraordinary tribute to commemorate a career studded with a host of awards, honours and scientific acknowledgements. Among these, 16 honours degrees received from famous universities among them Oxford, Cambridge and Bologna, his native city. His most famous award was that of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909, shared with the German scientist Karl Ferdinand Braun, which was awarded “in recognition for their contribution to the development of wireless telegraphy.” He was the first Italian to receive it.  Although Marconi was only 35, his name had often been mentioned in the previous years as a possible candidate for the Nobel Prize. In the solemn award ceremony Marconi held a conference at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm entitled “Wireless Telegraphic Communication”.

Marconi was invited to many countries across the world to illustrate the development of radio communications of which he became the living symbol. Among the numerous speeches given by Marconi during his 40-year career the one that can be considered to be his extraordinary scientific testament is the text of a radio message sent from Rome to Chicago in March 1937:

We have now reached a stage in the science and art of radio communications, when the expression of our thoughts can almost instantaneously and simultaneously be transmitted to and received by our fellowmen practically in every spot of the globe where a simple receiving apparatus is available […] Broadcasting, however, with all the importance it has attained, and the wide, unexplored fields still lying open to it, is not – in my opinion – the most significant part of modern communications, in so far as it is a “one way” communication. A far greater importance attaches, in my opinion, to the possibility afforded by radio of exchanging communications wherever the correspondents may be situated: whether in mid-ocean, or on the ice pack of the pole, or in the waste of a desert, or above the clouds in a airplane! […]

In radio we have a fitting tool for bringing the people of the world together, for letting their voices be heard, their needs and aspirations be manifested. The significance of this modern means of communication is thus fully revealed: a wide channel for the improvement of our mutual relations is available to us; we have only to follow its course in a spirit of tolerance and sympathy, solicitous of exploiting the achievements of science and human ingenuity for the common well. I am firmly convinced of the possibility of realising this ideal […]

[From Guglielmo Marconi, “The Significance of Modern Communication”, Broadcast to the Chicago Tribune Forum, 11th March, 1937]

Written by clifdenheritage.org

Thank you for this well written and interesting article. I love to hear about more connections in Ireland.

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I left a Comment about Patrick Hussey & Mary Maiden name ? & their children Michael & Kitty-Peggy the daughter”s name may have been Catherine – Margaret. There seemed to be a Mary Hussey died at Clifden in 1866 it might be a clue to more information .Patrick was my husbands G Grand father ,he died in 1900 and I am doing up the family grave at the moment at the Melbourne General Cemetery in Victoria Australia. Patrick came to Hobart Town he left Dublin in end of 1848 arrived in Tasmania February 1849. He was tried for sheep stealing . Tried at Galway June 1847 he was 30 years at that time . He lived in Clifden Connemara Galway I would like someone to try and see if the can find any Genealogy connections from early 1800″”s Patricks Parents were Patrick Hussey and Annie Kennealy, his father was a farmer. Patrick / The son sailed on the ship Blenheim [2 ]Voyage 308 Departure Port Dublin Convict 35329. I am interested in any connection to the names of Hussey and Kennealy. You may have some other enquiries about these names.I would be very pleased if you could do some research for me as I am so far away. Melbourne Australia

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Thanks for this nice review.

Hello I just came across your web site. I’m writing an article on Marconi that includes his Clifden history. I’m looking for good quality photos of the buildings of the time, and especially of the ‘condenser building,’ with photos of the large capacitor plates. Do you have good copies of these? Or do you know where I could get them? The article is for the centenary book of radio science being published by the International Union of Radio Science. Many thanks in advance, Máirtín

My grandfather worked for Marconi in Galway. He was an electrical engineer. I’d like to recommend, if I may, a very well researched book called “Marconi, The Irish Connection” by Michael Sexton, first published 2005. There are many good photographs within, including the condenser, etc. Good wishes with your work.

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Princess of Wirelessness

Elettra Marconi, daughter of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi, reminisces about growing up with her famous father and meeting many popes.

Princess Elettra Giovanelli Marconi ’s family are European nobility, friends of popes — and world renowned.

The princess was only 6 when her famous father died in 1937, but no living person knows Guglielmo Marconi’s life better. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the inventor’s Nobel Prize in Physics. April 25 is the 135th anniversary of his birth, and April 26 was the day he received British patent No. 7,777 in 1900.

As the only daughter of the late Marchioness Maria Cristina Marconi, a member of Italy’s Black Nobility whose Bezzi Scali family has been allied to the popes since the 17th century, few have known so well every pope since the 1930s. She was baptized by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, a friend of the family, the future Pope Pius XII.

In this exclusive interview with Register correspondent Edward Pentin at the Marconi family home, Palazzo Bezzi Scali, in Rome, Princess Marconi recalls her father’s groundbreaking inventions and her memories of six popes. Now 79, the princess also offers her thoughts on today’s digital communications.

Princess Marconi, what was your upbringing like as the daughter of Guglielmo Marconi? Did your father see his work as a kind of mission?

I was very young, but I remember him very well. I was always with my mother and father, and they were always together.

He had the idea to use these electric waves to save people’s lives when they were at sea and couldn’t ask for help, so they could communicate, send an S.O.S., and be rescued. All the time, he was thinking how to improve his invention and how to make new ones, because he was very creative. He had this wonderful gift. He was a scientist but also had this ambition to succeed in his ideas — and always for the benefit of humanity.

Also, in his last speeches, at the end of his life ... he was always saying he wanted to make new inventions, like radar. He made experiments on radar aboard Elettra , this beautiful yacht which was his home. It was a laboratory, because there he discovered how to make his radio transmissions, radar, radio waves and microwaves, and his last inventions.

Then he invented the parabolic antenna — the satellite, and then his last invention, that I remember very well, which was the extraction of gold from sea water. I saw these golden threads he was catching from the sea with his electric wave instruments. Then he died suddenly of a heart attack, and professors were asking my mother and me if we knew the secret, but we couldn’t explain it.

Your mother was from the Black Nobility, aristocratic Italian families allied to the pope. [White Nobility are related to Italian royalty.]

Yes, her family was from Rome; her father was Count Francesco Bezzi Scali. My grandparents came from families who were very strongly linked to the popes and the Vatican. … My grandfather was a young officer of the noble guards, and he became a noble guard to the pope, naturally. He became friends with Msgr. Eugenio Pacelli, and they were sent, by coincidence, together to the coronation of King George V in London. It was the first mission that the Vatican had sent to a coronation after King Henry VIII. It was a great experience for both of them, and they became great friends. They were friends all their lives.

Cardinal Pacelli baptized you?

Yes, but unfortunately, when he became a pope, my father had already died. My father died in 1937, and he became pope in 1939. He had promised me that he would give me first Communion.... He didn’t imagine he would become pope, but he kept his promise. I think he became pope in April, and in June he gave me first Communion. He had wanted very much to marry my parents, but he was nuncio in Berlin at the time.

What are your memories of Pius XII?

All my life, I always went on private visits to meet the Pope. I went with my mother, of course, and my grandparents. I remember they wanted to speak alone with the Pope at the beginning, and they had been teaching me how to bow. In this great sitting room, I had to bow when I entered, and then, in the middle of the room, to bow again. Then I would have to kiss his foot, when I met the Pope.

They called me to come in, and I was trembling and very nervous and emotional. I was bowing, and when I bowed in the middle, the Pope came to me and picked me up in his arms. I remember it so well. He was wonderful. He was so sweet, so human. He had so much spirituality.

It’s said he had a great aura of holiness about him.

Yes — like a saint. One felt a great spirituality with the Pope. He spoke in a very simple way because he and my grandfather were friends. My grandfather spoke with great reverence and respect, but he was very, very friendly.

He was also very fond of my mother, Cristina, because he gave her lessons in religion. He used to come here. My mother was born here, and my father died here. My mother was 14 or 15 at the time. So he knew my mother so well. He had a great esteem for her. He knew her feelings, how she was brought up, and what a clever girl she was.

Did you feel he was like your family’s parish priest?

Yes. He was protecting us, you see. And he did so many times.

What do you think about the controversies surrounding Pius XII?

Terrible, because he helped save the Jews — many, many were saved by him, and he did it secretly. If he didn’t do it that way, he wouldn’t have been able to help any more — they would have stopped him doing it. He organized to send them to private palaces, monasteries, convents, embassies, and so forth.

Did you ever talk to him about it?

During the war, my grandparents and my mother did. My mother had a personal doctor, Renato Polizza, who was Jewish. She felt desperate because he and his family were really in danger. So through Pius XII, they organized to send him to the Spanish embassy. So all the family of Renato Polizza were saved because, from the Spanish embassy, they succeeded in sending them straight to the Vatican, and they stayed there the whole time.

Tell us more about your family’s connections with Pius XI and Vatican Radio.

I remember my father was a great friend of Pope Pius XI because the Pope was a scientist. So he [Marconi] was always telling him about his latest achievements.

He was always paying him a visit so he would know what he was doing, and the Pope was extremely interested, being both a scientist and because it was always for the benefit of humanity. Then one day (I wasn’t born then), in front of my mother, Pius XI asked my father to build Vatican Radio because he wanted to communicate with the whole world and give his blessing.

My father accepted the request with great enthusiasm straightaway.

Your father spent a good part of his life in England. Why was that?

Yes, because when he made the invention in 1895, he presented it to the Italian government, the army and the navy. They didn’t understand his invention and refused to accept it. They didn’t believe it. Then he went with his wonderful mother, Annie Jameson, to London.

Could you tell us about his faith?

He was baptized Catholic, but grew up with his mother who was High Church Anglican. The Jamesons were a big and strong family — they are the whiskey family.

My father was always a believer, but he wished to become a Catholic because he was Italian and felt more for that religion. ... He was a very good Catholic, and from the letters he wrote, you can see he was very religious.

All the time he would say it was a gift of God that he could benefit mankind with his invention and save all these human lives. He was always thanking God for working through him. My father looked very English, more English than Italian. He spoke Italian with an English accent because he spent more time in England and America than in Italy. He spoke the King’s English.

What do you remember of the other popes?

I knew them all, except for John Paul I. John XXIII was like a parish priest, like a father to everybody, and would speak in a very simple way. He was charming, and strong, too. That was my impression. We went to private audiences with him, and he was so amusing, sweet and nice.

He had a great sense of humor.

Yes, great. Then there was Paul VI. He was very, very sweet, very kind with my mother and me. Also with Guglielmo [her son] when he was a little boy.

But he was, how I can say, shy. He was very reserved. It was like he was always making an effort. With us, he was very nice, but there was a strange feeling, because a pope is a giver, you see, and all the time it was an effort for him.

Then there’s Ratzinger. My mother was always speaking with Ratzinger, so I knew him very well when he was a cardinal, and I wanted very much that he would become pope. I was jumping for joy when he was elected.

But he was shy, too, very reserved — very intellectual, very clever, very cultured. But then he became open; he embraced everybody; he changed completely.

At the beginning, I was afraid he wasn’t feeling very comfortable. But now, instead, he is strong and marvelous — marvelous!

Then, of course, there is John Paul II, who was just wonderful!

After three popes had asked her, my mother made up her mind to give a very precious letter of my father to Cardinal Gasparri, written when the king of Italy and the pope had signed the Lateran Pacts.

So, it’s historical and most important, and my mother didn’t really want to give it to the Vatican. [Giulio] Andreotti, the governor of the Vatican, who was my cousin, was writing asking for it, and then John Paul II.

So she made up her mind, but he was very clever, because he had heard how long it took her to decide. So at the opening of this inauguration of all these manuscripts, there was this letter of my father, and John Paul took my mother’s hand and said: “ Marchesa, quanto è stata generosa !” [Marchioness, how generous you’ve been!] This was the first thing he said.

I met him many times. I thanked him for what he was doing for the whole world, and he would thank me instead for what I was doing — that I was always traveling for my father. I also think he meant spiritually, too — what I could do by going about.

What do you think of when you see today’s telecommunications?

Well, my father foresaw it all. While they were traveling around the world from 1933 to 1934, in 1933 in Chicago, he said, in front of my mother and all the press, that one day people will have a little box they will keep in their pocket and they will speak with their fiancé, with their banker, with their families.

He made the first mobile telephone and offered it to Pope Pius XI. It was like a large wardrobe, not a small mobile, and it was carried on a car, and they communicated to one another.

When you see all this technology, do you think: ‘My dad started all this’?

For me, it was very exciting when I spoke for the first time on a mobile telephone because it’s without wires, you see.

That’s radio. That’s my father.

I was very, very moved and excited and very happy. I felt my father was close to me. He was very moved when he transmitted for the first time across the Atlantic because he understood it was the beginning of communications over great distances — that it would bring all five continents close to one another. He understood everything at that moment, what would happen after his invention.

Edward Pentin writes

• April 26-May 2, 2009

Edward Pentin Edward Pentin is the Register’s Senior Contributor and EWTN News Vatican Analyst. He began reporting on the Pope and the Vatican with Vatican Radio before moving on to become the Rome correspondent for EWTN's National Catholic Register. He has also reported on the Holy See and the Catholic Church for a number of other publications including Newsweek , Newsmax, Zenit , The Catholic Herald , and The Holy Land Review , a Franciscan publication specializing in the Church and the Middle East. Edward is the author of The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates (Sophia Institute Press, 2020) and The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? An Investigation into Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family (Ignatius Press, 2015). Follow him on Twitter at @edwardpentin.

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L’Elettra di Guglielmo Marconi, la nave dei miracoli

LA NAVE DEI MIRACOLI

In Italia purtroppo non c’è una cultura marinara forte come in altri paesi, dove con delle sottoscrizioni anche volontarie è stato possibile recuperare inportanti “cimeli”; come per esempio in Francia dove in poco tempo sono stati raccolti i fondi per acquistare la nostra nave scuola “GIORGIO CINI”, di costruzione francese, che ora naviga superba nei mari di Bretagna con il “BELEM”. Certamente però i nostri politici hanno perso l’occasione di creare una nave-museo (vedi il CUTTY SARK a Greenwich, il VICTORY a Portsmouth, il CONSTITUTION a Boston, il FRAM ad Oslo, ecc.) polo d’attrazione per raccogliere la storia di Marconi e della radio, invenzione che ha completamente rivoluzionato la navigazione, la vita e la sicurezza di uomini e mezzi in mare.

A diciott’anni Marconi ha dato inizio alle ricerche ed agli esperimenti di trasmissione delle onde “hertziane”, intuendo la possibilità di invio a distanza di messaggi intellegibili senza l’impiego di fili, come richiedeva invece il telegrafo; dopo alcune prove in laboratorio a Pontecchio, nell’estate del 1895 riuscì a trasmettere la lettera “S”, in alfabeto morse, ad una distanza di 1,5 Km… era iniziata l’era della radiofonia. Ma “nemo profeta in patria”: Marconi infatti non venne preso in considerazione dal competente ministero italiano e quindi l’anno successivo si trasferì in Inghilterra, patria della madre; qui trovò gli appoggi per proseguire gli esperimenti trasmettendo a distanze sempre maggiori ed ottenendo quindi il primo brevetto – inglese – per la telegrafia senza fili. Nel 1897 fondò la prima società marconiana, la Marconìs Wireless Telegraph Company, che fabbricava gli apparecchi trasmittenti e riceventi e istruiva i tecnici per l’istallazione delle stazioni radiotelegrafiche, sempre più numerose sia a terra che sulle navi.

La definizione data da D’Annunzio all’ELETTRA – candida nave che navigava nel miracolo e animava i silenzi – calza ottimamente con la realtà; insieme casa e laboratorio per Guglielmo Marconi, questo splendido panfilo bianco al quale l’umanità intera deve molto era infatti noto in tutto il mondo.

Lo yacht venne ordinato dall’Arciduca d’Austria Carlo Stefano, ufficiale dell’I. R. Marina, al Cantiere Ramage & Ferguson Ldt. di Leith in Scozia ed il progetto fu affidato agli ingegneri Cox e King di Londra, che disegnarono un elegante scafo dalle linee filanti, prua slanciata in avanti a klipper con bompresso e poppa stretta e rotonda; in coperta una lunga tuga centrale in mogano e teak, sormontata da un fumaiolo leggermente inclinato verso poppa e due alberi armati con rande, come era abitudine dell’epoca.

Lo yacht, varato il 27 marzo 1904 col nome di ROVENSKA, a ricordo della località (sull’isola di Lussino) dove l’arciduca aveva una lussuosa villa in cui solitamente abitava, venne intestato alla moglie, l’arciduchessa Maria Teresa, ed iscritto al k.u.k. Yacht- Geschawader, battendo quindi bandiera della Marina da guerra fino al 1909.

Sempre con lo stesso nome nel 1910 lo yacht venne aquistato da Sir Max Waechter – passando sotto bandiera inglese -, e nel 1914 fu rivenduto a Gustavus H.F. Pratt. Con lo scoppio della grande guerra lo yacht fu militarizzato e trasformato in nave da pattuglia e scorta, e quindi impiegato nella Manica, tra l’Inghilterra ed i porti di Brest e Saint Malò.

Cessate le ostilità il ROVENSKA fu messo in disarmo a Southampton e messo all’asta, così nel 1919 – per 21.000 sterline – Guglielmo Marconi potè acquistarlo. Sottoposta a notevoli lavori di risistemazione la nave venne quindi riclassificata e, ancora sotto bandiera inglese, salpò da Londra nel luglio 1919 al comando del comandante Raffaele Lauro, giungendo a Napoli in agosto. Lo yacht fu poi portato a La Spezia per essere trasformato in nave-laboratorio sotto la direzione dell’ammiraglio Filippo Camperio: a bordo vennero infatti sistemate trasmittenti e riceventi, nonchè alzati gli alberi per le antenne.

Marconi voleva disporre di un mezzo che gli consentisse di effettuare ricerche e relativi esperimenti nel miglior modo possibile: era nata l’ELETTRA, una stazione mobile, su cui poteva lavorare ad ogni ora del giorno in raccoglimento ed isolamento, indipendente da curiosità e distrazioni di sorta, con notevole facilità di spostamento, risolvendo così problemi di portata e di effetti direzionali. Le sue esperienze dovevano essere effettuate a distanze diverse in modo da controllare l’efficacia delle trasmissioni secondo la lontananza tra emittente e ricevente; per maggiore comodità il laboratorio venne collegato direttamente con la cabina dello scienziato.

L’arredamento di bordo era consono alle esigenze di lunghi soggiorni ed adatto ad ospitare illustri ospiti per necessità di rappresentanza; tra questi ricordiamo re Vittorio Emanuele III, re Giorgio V d’Inghilterra ed i Sovrani di Spagna. Oltre all’armatore, la nave era in grado di ospitare comodamente sei ospiti, nonchè sei ufficiali, sei sottufficiali e diciotto marinai.

Iscritta col nuovo nome di “ELETTRA”, il 27 ottobre 1921 , al compartimento marittimo di Genova (numero di matricola 956) e quindi al Real Yacht Club Italiano, il passaggio definitivo sotto bandiera italiana venne formalizzato in data 21 dicembre.

Nell’aprile del 1920 mentre il panfilo navigava nel golfo di Biscaglia gli ospiti di bordo, grazie alla trasmissione dalla stazione broadcasting Marconi di Chelmsford, per la prima volta poterono sintonizzarsi per sentire via radio l’orchestra dell’Hotel Savoy di Londra, quindi il concerto del soprano Melba al Covent Garden: la “radio” era una realtà. L’invenzione della valvola termoionica di Fleming, suo collaboratore, gli consentì infatti la realizzazione della “radio” come oggi la conosciamo.

Gli esperimenti proseguirono per raggiungere traguardi ancora più concreti. Marconi non aveva dimestichezza con le formule, la sua era una mente intuitiva e pratica, che lo spingeva a tentare quello che gli accademici ritenevano impossibile: inviare segnali nello spazio tra punti non visibili fra loro. L’ELETTRA divenne fucina di studio per le migliori applicazioni delle onde hertziane corte e cortissime, consentendo il continuo progresso delle radiocomunicazioni.

Nel 1922 L’ELETTRA svolse una campagna di esperimenti nel Nord America, nel 1923 lungo la costa occidentale dell’Atlantico per sperimentare le ricezioni a distanze sempre maggiori della nuova stazione su onde corte a fascio di Poldhu (Cornovaglia). Marconi dimostrò così che un segnale poteva essere captato ad oltre 4000 chilometri con trasmissione a potenza ridotta: onde di 92 metri con potenza di 6 Kw.

Per conto del Governo inglese, nel 1924 lo scienziato iniziò sull’ELETTRA gli esperimenti con onde corte di 36-60 metri, con una potenza di 12 Kw, coprendo la distanza di 4130 kilometri. Vennero quindi realizzati i collegamenti radio normali ad uso pubblico tra l’Inghilterra ed i suoi “domini”: il Canada (24 ottobre 1926), l’Australia (8 aprile 1927), il Sud Africa (5 luglio 1927), l’India (6 settembre 1927). Gli importanti risultati raggiunti a bordo dell’ELETTRA fruttarono tra l’altro un ricco contratto tra il Governo e la sua Compagnia. Inventore delle società multinazionali, Marconi possedeva un notevole senso degli affari rivelandosi infatti anche grande capitano d’industria e diceva: “Il denaro è un’unità di misura. Chi non si fa pagare non sa misurare il prodotto del proprio lavoro”.

Nel gennaio del 1930 vennero imbarcati nuovi apparecchi con soluzioni d’avanguardia nella radiofonia a grandi distanze ed il 26 marzo successivo, alle ore 11,03, avvenne il “miracolo”: dall’Elettra ancorata a Genova presso lo Yacht club italiano, per mezzo del piccolo tasto, conservato oggi al Museo del mare di Trieste, Guglielmo Marconi inviava nell’etere gli impulsi che, dopo 14.000 miglia, giungevano in Australia per accendere le lampade del Municipio di Sidney! L’esperimento è stato recentemente ripetuto dal Presidente della Repubblica Luigi Scalfaro a Genova – questa volta con il laser – proprio per celebrare a 65 anni di distanza il “genio” di Marconi.

Lo scienziato era inesauribile e nel 1931 iniziò gli studi sulle microonde della gamma inferiore al metro, effettuando gli esperimenti tra S. Margherita Ligure e Sestri Levante. Così nel 1932 fu realizzato il collegamento tra S. Margherita e l’ELETTRA e successivamente quello col radiofaro di Sestri, mediante onde di 63 centimetri; si stabiliva così la possibilità per una nave di accedere ad un porto in qualsiasi condizione atmosferica, valendosi della rotta segnata dal radiofaro.

Uno degli ultimi esperimenti a bordo dell’ELETTRA avveniva nel luglio del 1937 con la messa a punto del radiofaro a micro-onde; ma il 20 luglio 1937 Guglielmo Marconi moriva, lasciando ancora incompiuti i suoi studi, ma all’umanità una via ben tracciata per il progresso della comunicazione.

Marconi, resosi conto delle sue precarie condizioni, temeva per la conservazione della “sua” ELETTRA, ma nel 1937 la nave-laboratorio fu acquistata per 820.000 lire dal Ministero delle poste e telecomunicazioni che ne voleva garantire la conservazione. La Soc. Marconi italiana donava poi allo Stato, in occasione del primo anniversario della sua scomparsa, gli impianti di R.T. che erano a bordo del panfilo.

Nel 1939 l’ELETTRA veniva portata nell’Arsenale marittimo di La Spezia per lavori di ripristino e di riclassifica; nell’imminenza dell’entrata in guerra dell’Italia fu trasferita a Trieste, considerata città sicura da incursioni nemiche, giungendovi il 9 giugno 1940; qui fu custodita dalla S. p. A. di navigazione Italia fino all’8 settembre del 1943; successivamente il panfilo venne requisito dai tedeschi, inviato in cantiere per essere trasformato in unità di impiego bellico prima con la sigla “G. 107” e quindi “N.A. 6” ed armato con due mitragliatrici binate da 20 mm ed una da 15 mm. Inutili risultarono le molte proteste italiane; venne concesso unicamente di sbarcare le apparecchiature radio ed i materiali utilizzati da Marconi per i suoi esperimenti grazie anche al tacito appoggio del capitano Zimmermann della Kriegsmarine, che si rendeva conto della loro importanza storica. Tale materiale venne poi imballato ed occultato dal professore Mario Picotti, che temeva un successivo sequestro dei cimeli marconiani, riuscendo così a celarli in 19 casse in posti diversi ma sicuri della città anche nei giorni di occupazione delle truppe titine nel 1945; nel 1947 quasi tutto fu spedito al Museo della scienza e della Tecnica di Milano.

Il 28 dicembre del 1943 l’ELETTRA partì da Trieste in missione di pattuglia e scorta lungo le coste della Dalmazia. La sera del 21 gennaio 1944 la nave giunse nella valle di Diklo, vicino a Zara, ormeggiando e forse restando incagliata; fatto sta che la mattina successiva i ricognitori aerei l’individuarono e quindi giunsero i cacciabombardieri alleati che centrarono la nave con le bombe e la mitragliarono: l’ELETTRA si adagiò tristemente sul basso fondale, restando in parte emersa. Da quel momento fu oggetto di continue “visite”, con consenguente asportazione di tutto il materiale che poteva essere sottratto e quindi ridotta a “nudo” relitto, che in base al trattato di pace divenne proprietà della Repubblica Iugoslava. I resti dell’ELETTRA andavano sempre più deperendo anche per l’asporto delle parti metalliche, ma ancora impossibile risultava un accordo con la vicina Repubblica per il recupero della nave, nemmeno facendo leva sul valore morale che tale imbarcazione aveva per gli italiani. Solo nel 1959 la Iugoslavia permise dei rilievi tecnici sulle possibilità di recupero della nave, consentendo poi la restituzione senza contropartite, grazie all’intervento diretto del maresciallo Tito su sollecitazione dell’allora nostro Ministro degli esteri Segni.

Nel 1962 l ‘ELETTRA fu quindi riportata a galla e rimorchiata alla banchina del Cantiere S. Rocco di Muggia, presso Trieste; tutto sembrava procedere al meglio per ridare dignità a questa nave… ma l’aspettava ancora una tragica fine!

Il Ministero delle poste e telecomunicazioni fece predisporre uno studio per la ricostruzione della nave: l’Ufficio tecnico della Navalgenarmi di Monfalcone, eseguiti i rilievi dettagliati dello scafo, presentò nel novembre del 1962 un progetto ed una specifica di lavori per la ricostruzione integrale del panfilo – almeno nell’aspetto esteriore come era all’epoca di Marconi – del laboratorio e dell’appartamento del Senatore. Era prevista la sua riclassifica come nave navigante con motore diesel da 400 CV, prevedendo il completo rifacimento del fasciame dell’opera morta, delle strutture di prua e del trincarino dei bagli di coperta e delle paratie trasversali e longitudinali della nave. I preventivi di spesa erano pesanti ed iniziarono polemiche a non finire con soluzioni diverse per la nave, senza però tener conto della realtà oggettiva dello stato dello scafo. Per dieci anni vi furono solo polemiche e la ruggine frattanto camminava e corrodeva; mentre si avvicinava il centenario della nascita di Guglielmo Marconi (1974) vi fu un risveglio di interessi per la nave anche all’estero, sollecitato soprattutto dall’ammiraglio Virgilio Spigai, Presidente del Lloyd Triestino, intervenuto presso il Presidente del Consiglio dei ministri on. Andretti, che prometteva il suo interessamento. Nell’ottobre 1972 a villa Grifone di Pontecchio veniva dato l’annuncio ufficiale della ricostruzione dal Direttore generale delle Poste e telecomunicazioni, a seguito dello stanziamento apposito di 2 miliardi e 400 milioni. L’anno successivo l’Arsenale triestino – San Marco veniva incaricato di mettere il relitto in bacino per iniziare i rilievi e prendere le opportune decisioni definitive. Non disponendo dell’originale venne così ricostruito il “piano di costruzione” della nave e furono effettuati tutti i controlli sullo scafo sotto la direzione dell’ing. Oddo Oddone. Si giunse alla conclusione dell’impossibilità di rendere la nave ancora navigabile, date le norme internazionali di sicurezza che ne avrebbero modificato l’aspetto esterno; era invece possibile una sua ricostruzione originale come “galleggiante”, senza propulsione propria, da spostare al traino. Non era però possibile per lo stato avanzato della corrosione utilizzare molto della vecchia Elettra, per cui risultava più conveniente ricostruire la nave a strutture saldate per mantenere inalterato l’aspetto esterno.

Il nuovo progetto e relativo preventivo di lavori (7 miliardi circa) superava però ampliamente quanto in precedenza stimato e stanziato dal Governo per cui – dato che poco sarebbe stato utilizzato della vecchia Elettra – tutto si bloccò nuovamente ed il progetto fu accantonato e decisa invece la demolizione!

Il 18 aprile 1977 il relitto venne di nuovo messo in bacino e sotto la direzione dell’ing. Oddone del Ministero, con la consulenza dello scultore Marcello Mascherini e di un architetto lo scafo venne tagliato in varie porzioni; si cercava così di accontentare tutti e nessuno, disperdendo parti della nave nei vari posti d’Italia, opera che non è ancora terminata!

Vediamo ora dove sono finiti i diversi pezzi dello scafo ed i cimeli dell’Elettra:

ROMA-FUCINO: Il blocco poppiero comprendente anche l’elica ed il timone è stato inviato a Telespazio a Fucino ed è sistemato nella Piana del Fucino.

ROMA: al Museo delle poste e telecomunicazioni c’è la dinamo a vapore. All’EUR invece è stata ricostruita la cabina in cui lo scienziato aveva effettuato i suoi esperimenti.

PONTECCHIO MARCONI: la sezione trasversale costituita da sei ordinate è stata sistemata nel giardino della Villa Grifone di Pontecchio, sede della Fondazione Marconi.

MILANO: al Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnica sono conservate gran parte delle apparecchiature di bordo.

VENEZIA: l’impianto propulsivo costituito dalla macchina alternativa e dalle caldaie è conservato nelle sale del Museo storico navale di Venezia.

SANTA MARGHERITA LIGURE: una parte dello scafo è alla Villa Durazzo.

TRIESTE: all’entrata del Museo del mare è sistemata la sezione trasversale centrale della nave, costituita da due ordinate, unitamente all’ancora. Nella sala dedicata a Marconi alcune apparecchiature tra cui l’ecometro, alcune valvole ed il tasto con cui lo scienziato trasmise l’impulso per accendere le luci a Sidney.

A Padriciano, vicino a Trieste, in una palazzina dell’ex campo profughi sono stati recentementi trasferiti gli alberi della nave, prima nel castello di S. Giusto in un ambiente troppo umido. L’alberetto, ottimamente restaurato dall’artigiano Aldo Franceschini, è stato adibito da poco ad alzabandiera nel piazzale antistante l’International maritime academy di Trieste.

Resta ancora in Arsenale S. Marco tutta la prua – circa 8 metri di altezza per 19 di lunghezza – destinata alla città, ma che non ha ancora trovato adeguata collocazione. (ndr 09/2004: Dal settembre 2000 la prua dell’ELETTRA è stata posizionata definitivamente di fronte alla sede del Centro Radioelettrico Sperimentale intitolato a Guglielmo Marconi nell’Area di Ricerca di Padriciano)

Ed inoltre un pezzo della fiancata è conservato come monumento presso il Palazzo delle poste di Mestre, mentre a Muggia la “Fameia muiesana” conserva il tornio di bordo, ben ripulito. Una piccola sezione di scafo è presso il Circolo Marconi di Sidney ed ancora singoli piccoli pezzi sono sparsi in altre località.

L’ultimo aiuto per la conservazione dei cimeli marconiani si deve a Fulvio Anzellotti, amministratore delegato della VN SpA Veneziani, che ha fornito il trattamento completo (speciali preparati trasformatori di ruggine per lo scafo e Resina 2000 per impregnare e proteggere il legno e quindi su entrambi i materiali la protezione trasparente Wood Gloss) per la conservazione degli alberi e della prua dell’Elettra.

Certamente non molti forse oggi hanno presente l’importanza dell’ELETTRA nella storia navale, ma questa nave laboratorio ha consentito a Guglielmo Marconi di rivoluzionare l'”andar per mare”. Il 12 dicembre 1901 il telegrafo senza fili di Marconi collegava la sponda europea con quella americana dell’Atlantico, superando la “montagna d’acqua” di 250 kilometri costituita dall’Oceano nonchè la curvatura del globo. Nel 1912 il naufragio del TITANIC impose agli occhi del mondo la straordinaria utilità della sua invenzione; solo grazie alla radio infatti i 706 superstiti della tragedia poterono essere soccorsi in tempo e salvati. Da quel momento l’SOS ne ha fatta di strada, garantendo sicurezza in mare in ogni punto della terra.

La radio ha poi consentito anche un diverso impiego delle stesse imbarcazioni nei traffici commerciali: ancora nel nostro secolo infatti una nave partiva per la sua destinazione e non poteva ricevere comunicazioni fino al suo primo scalo e non sempre attuali. Con le prime stazioni radio è stato quindi possibile indirizzare le imbarcazioni dove c’erano richieste per il trasporto di carichi, rendendo tutto più veloce ed economico. Si è poi arrivati a guidare le imbarcazioni nelle entrate nei porti tramite i radio fari anche in condizioni di non visibilità; più tardi si arriverà al radar.

Certamente è per questi motivi che il “Times” di Londra definì Guglielmo Marconi, che ricevette quindici lauree ad honorem e fu nominato senatore e Presidente del Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche e dell’Accademia d’Italia, “l’uomo più significativo della nostra epoca” e l’ELETTRA era per tutti i popoli il simbolo del progresso sul mare. Purtroppo per incapacità non siamo stati in grado di far sì che questo simbolo divenisse una testimonianza perpetua!

Caratteristiche tecniche yacht “Elettra” (ex Rovenska)

Piroscafo ad 1 elica e 2 alberi Cantiere di costruzione: Ramage & Ferguson Ldt – Leith (Inghilterra) Anno costruzione: 1904 Lunghezza fuori tutto: 67,40 metri Lunghezza del ponte: 198′ (60,35 m) Lunghezza tra le perpendicolari: 56,36 m Lunghezza al galleggiamento: 184′ (56,08 m) Larghezza massima fuori ossatura: 8,38 m (27’6″) Altezza al ponte di coperta: 5,18 m (17′) Immersione a pieno carico: 5,00 m Macchina: Ramage & Ferguson Ltd – Leith – a vapore a triplice espansione e 3 cilindri. 126,9 5 Cavalli nominali e 1000 Cavalli indicati. Capace di imprimere una velocità di 12 nodi. 2 caldaie monofronti Ramage & Fergusson Ldt Tonnellaggio di stazza netta: 232,18 t Tonnellaggio di stazza lorda: 632, 81 t Dimensioni di stazza: 63,40 x 8,31 x 4,96 metri Nominativo: I B D K – Itl. Iscritto al compartimento marittimo di Genova – N° Matricola: 956 Classificazione: 100 A. 1.1. Navigazione: lungo corso Ultimo armatore: Ministero delle comunicazioni – Direzione poste e telegrafi – Roma.

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• Published: 10 December 1932

Ultra-Short-Wave Wireless Communication

Nature volume  130 ,  page 877 ( 1932 ) Cite this article

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IN his Friday evening discourse at the Royal Institution on December 2, the Marchese Marconi described the important results of his recent investigations into the properties and behaviour of very short electric waves, Numerous distance tests and a few official demonstrations have been given from time to time, and each has proved the availability and practicability of these waves for the purposes of radio communications. Soon after a duplex demonstration over a distance of twenty-three miles between Santa Margherita and Sestri Levante, the Vatican authorities decided to adopt the new system for telephonic communication between the Vatican City and the palace of the Pope at Castel Gandolfo, a distance of 20 kilometres entirely over land, and screened by intervening trees. In connexion with the establishment of this service, successful tests took place towards the end of April this year; during one of these tests waves had to pass through all the masts and aerials of the high power radio station of the Italo Radio Company at Terranuova. Following a series of experiments with waves of the order of 50 centimetres length conducted between Marconi's yacht Elettra and the station at Rocca di Papa, near Rome, the most outstanding result was the successful establishment of communication from Bocca di Papa to Cape Figari, Sardinia, over a distance of 168 statute miles (275 kilometres) on a wave-length of 57 centimetres. All previous distance records of communication by means of wave-lengths less than one metre were thus far surpassed, and it was effectively demonstrated that these very short waves can overcome the supposed obstacle presented by the curvature of the earth, the distance between the two stations being considerably in excess of the optical range. A new technique is thus developed which is bound to extend very considerably the already vast field of the applications of electric waves to radio communications. The new system is unaffected by fog, and offers a high degree of secrecy, by virtue, principally, of its sharp directive qualities.

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Penzance Harbour - Elettra

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Correction, this is now established as the Yacht Elettra (Electra) Marconis radio experimental yacht. Notes added above.  

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Elettra Marconi: «Lo yacht “Elettra” divenne la nostra casa. Mi parlava già di telefoni da tenere in una tasca»

Nel 2024 si celebreranno i 150 anni dalla nascita di Guglielmo Marconi , padre delle comunicazioni senza fili, premio Nobel nel 1909. Sono in programma una miniserie sul grande inventore con Stefano Accorsi e un museo a cura del Comune di Santa Marinella e di Livio Spinelli a Torre Chiaruccia, la sua ultima stazione radio. Elettra Marconi, la figlia, ci ha aperto il suo palazzo a via Condotti per ricordarci chi era suo padre.

Se pensa a lui che parola le viene in mente? «“Radio”. Perché la comunicazione senza fili ha cambiato la vita delle persone».

C’è un luogo che glielo fa sentire vicino? «Il mare. Se vedo il mare, penso a mio padre. Mio padre c’è dov’è il mare».

Avete viaggiato molto per mare? «Sì, con lo yacht Elettra. Era la nostra casa. Navigavamo da marzo a fine novembre. Quando non lavorava, mi parlava, giocava insieme a me con l’elettricità».

Come si svolgeva una giornata sull’Elettra? «Ci alzavamo presto. Papà passava molto tempo nella sua cabina-stazione radio, piena di valvole, apparecchi, orologi con i diversi fusi orari. Chiamava lo yacht Elettra “il mio laboratorio galleggiante”. Diceva: “Senza l’Elettra non avrei potuto realizzare tutti gli esperimenti che ho fatto”».

Le capitava di aiutarlo? «Stava creando il radar. Aveva costruito un apparecchio e posto due boe a distanza precisa, perché l’Elettra potesse entrare di prua. Chiamava me e mia madre per mettere delle lenzuola bianche intorno alla cabina del comandante, così che lo yacht procedesse alla cieca, con il solo ausilio della sua invenzione».

Cosa lo muoveva alla scoperta? «Voleva che gli esseri umani avessero una vita migliore».

Anche la radio è nata con questo spirito? «Sì, la gente di mare diceva “Marconi l’ha inventata per noi”. Infatti voleva aiutare i naviganti che solcavano gli oceani senza notizie della famiglia, senza poter chiamare soccorso».

Nelle navi c’erano i «marconisti». «I Marconi man! Avevano la M sul cappello. Io mi sono battuta per loro quando hanno voluto sostituirli con i computer, ma non è servito».

Suo padre aveva previsto il cellulare? «Nel 1931 inventò il primo radiotelefono per Papa Pio XI. Era ancora uno strumento ingombrante, ma diceva sarebbe arrivato un momento in cui le persone, con “una scatoletta in tasca”, avrebbero potuto parlare con la fidanzata, la famiglia o con chi avessero voluto».

Parlava molto con suo padre? «C’era grande dialogo tra noi. Crescendo ho capito di avere un carattere simile al suo. Era un uomo retto e pretendeva che anche gli altri lo fossero. In famiglia era dolce, ma in certi momenti, era molto concentrato sul suo lavoro. Io ho sempre saputo e rispettato la grandezza di mio padre. Quando arrivavamo nei porti lo aspettava una folla».

Suo padre amava l’Italia? «Teneva molto al suo Paese. Quando è scoppiata la Prima guerra mondiale, ha lasciato il lavoro in America, dove costruiva stazioni radio, per arruolarsi e andare nel Genio, alle comunicazioni. Poi è stato in Marina».

E l’Italia lo amava? «È stato un dolore quando ha presentato la sua invenzione a 21 anni al governo italiano ricevendo indifferenza. Quindi ha deciso di andare con la madre irlandese in Inghilterra. Lì lo hanno accolto con entusiasmo, gli hanno fatto mostrare le sue invenzioni, hanno visto che funzionavano e lo hanno sostenuto. Avevano capito che erano importanti per l’impero della regina Vittoria».

Sono gli anni del grande esperimento? «Nel 1895 ha fatto la prima trasmissione radio a Sasso Marconi, dalla villa dei genitori, attraverso la collina. A partire da lì ha presentato l’invenzione, poi accolta in Inghilterra. Ha costruito stazioni radio nel mondo. La prima che ha ricevuto una trasmissione transatlantica era in Canada, il 12 dicembre 1901, alle 12:30, sull’Isola del Newfoundland».

Sono racconti che le faceva lui stesso? «Sì. Me ne parlava. Il giorno della prima trasmissione c’era poi un assistente che lavorava al Ministero delle Comunicazioni di Londra, Mister Kemp. Mio padre, che lo portava con sé, disse: “Can you hear anything?”, e lui, “Yes!”. Erano i tre punti della lettera S. Il telegrafo senza fili era diventato realtà».

Un uomo capace di superare ostacoli... «Ha avuto una vita avventurosissima. La stazione radio restò poi distrutta da una bufera di neve. Lui non si è perso d’animo, ne ha costruita subito un’altra».

Quanto è stato importante il contesto familiare per lo sviluppo delle invenzioni di suo padre? «La mia nonna irlandese ha creduto ciecamente nel figlio. Il padre invece era preoccupato, temeva perdesse gli anni più importanti dello studio per giocare con l’elettricità. Però lo aveva abbonato a una rivista sulle scoperte in questo campo. In fondo anche lui lo sosteneva. E poi mia madre, Maria Cristina Bezzi-Scali, lo ha seguito sempre».

È stata testimone anche dei colloqui tra Pio XI e suo padre. «Pio XI obbligava mia madre a portarmi alle udienze private. Mio padre era legatissimo al Papa, al Vaticano, era un uomo di grandissima fede, credeva in Dio, quell’Essere superiore che gli aveva messo a disposizione le forze della natura per dare beneficio agli uomini, per salvare le loro vite, per dare loro la possibilità di comunicare».

Non è scontato per uno scienziato avere questo rapporto con il divino. «Mio padre ha offerto al Papa la Radio Vaticana. Il Pontefice aveva espresso questo desiderio e lui era d’accordissimo, infatti aveva pensato: “Il Papa dovrebbe avere la stazione radio per parlare al mondo e dare la benedizione Urbi et Orbi”. Così nel febbraio 1931 è stata inaugurata».

Anche Pio XII ha avuto un ruolo importante nella vostra vita familiare. «Eugenio Pacelli era già legato a mio nonno, il conte Francesco Bezzi-Scali, veniva in questa casa, per dare lezioni di religione a Cristina, mia madre. È stato il responsabile del matrimonio dei miei, capì il loro grande amore. Da segretario di Stato mi battezzò e da Papa mi amministrò la prima comunione e la cresima».

Grazie a Marconi si salvarono molte vite del Titanic. «Nel 1912 c’è stata la tragedia. Lui era stato invitato a bordo del Titanic come ospite d’onore , ma per fortuna non ha preso parte. Non amava la mondanità. Da New York ha seguito tutta la tragedia, è poi andato al porto a ricevere i sopravvissuti».

Pensa che suo padre dovrebbe essere più ricordato? «I ragazzi vengono da me a lamentarsi perché non trovano niente sui libri. Se uno va all’estero c’è un grande entusiasmo. La scuola in questo è carente, c’è solo il nome e la data del primo esperimento. Mio padre è un grande esempio».

Era più Marconi l’inventore o era più suo padre? «L’inventore. Ovviamente era anche mio padre, che adoravo. Vedevo, però, la sua importanza. Quando è mancato ci è cascato il mondo addosso. Mia madre ha voluto fossi presente a tutte le commemorazioni che gli hanno dedicato. Papà è morto il giorno del mio settimo compleanno. Dopo ho sentito la differenza. Nessuno è stato come mio padre».

Come fa a ricordare tutto? «Ricordo meglio il tempo con mio padre che quello successivo. Dopo... dopo è come una nebbia. E poi non c’era niente da ricordare, la guerra... quando mio padre è mancato, nel 1937, tutte le stazioni radio, anche in Paesi lontani e nemici tra loro, tacquero per due minuti. Il mondo per due minuti tornò al silenzio precedente il 1895».

Leggi le altre interviste della serie «ERA MIO PADRE»

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• Russian Kitchen

Cruising the Moskva River: A short guide to boat trips in Russia’s capital

There’s hardly a better way to absorb Moscow’s atmosphere than on a ship sailing up and down the Moskva River. While complicated ticketing, loud music and chilling winds might dampen the anticipated fun, this checklist will help you to enjoy the scenic views and not fall into common tourist traps.

How to find the right boat?

There are plenty of boats and selecting the right one might be challenging. The size of the boat should be your main criteria.

Plenty of small boats cruise the Moskva River, and the most vivid one is this yellow Lay’s-branded boat. Everyone who has ever visited Moscow probably has seen it.

This option might leave a passenger disembarking partially deaf as the merciless Russian pop music blasts onboard. A free spirit, however, will find partying on such a vessel to be an unforgettable and authentic experience that’s almost a metaphor for life in modern Russia: too loud, and sometimes too welcoming. Tickets start at $13 (800 rubles) per person.

Bigger boats offer smoother sailing and tend to attract foreign visitors because of their distinct Soviet aura. Indeed, many of the older vessels must have seen better days. They are still afloat, however, and getting aboard is a unique ‘cultural’ experience. Sometimes the crew might offer lunch or dinner to passengers, but this option must be purchased with the ticket. Here is one such  option  offering dinner for $24 (1,490 rubles).

If you want to travel in style, consider Flotilla Radisson. These large, modern vessels are quite posh, with a cozy restaurant and an attentive crew at your service. Even though the selection of wines and food is modest, these vessels are still much better than other boats.

Surprisingly, the luxurious boats are priced rather modestly, and a single ticket goes for $17-$32 (1,100-2,000 rubles); also expect a reasonable restaurant bill on top.

How to buy tickets?

Women holding photos of ships promise huge discounts to “the young and beautiful,” and give personal invitations for river tours. They sound and look nice, but there’s a small catch: their ticket prices are usually more than those purchased online.

“We bought tickets from street hawkers for 900 rubles each, only to later discover that the other passengers bought their tickets twice as cheap!”  wrote  (in Russian) a disappointed Rostislav on a travel company website.

Nevertheless, buying from street hawkers has one considerable advantage: they personally escort you to the vessel so that you don’t waste time looking for the boat on your own.

Prices start at $13 (800 rubles) for one ride, and for an additional $6.5 (400 rubles) you can purchase an unlimited number of tours on the same boat on any given day.

Flotilla Radisson has official ticket offices at Gorky Park and Hotel Ukraine, but they’re often sold out.

Buying online is an option that might save some cash. Websites such as  this   offer considerable discounts for tickets sold online. On a busy Friday night an online purchase might be the only chance to get a ticket on a Flotilla Radisson boat.

This  website  (in Russian) offers multiple options for short river cruises in and around the city center, including offbeat options such as ‘disco cruises’ and ‘children cruises.’ This other  website  sells tickets online, but doesn’t have an English version. The interface is intuitive, however.

Buying tickets online has its bad points, however. The most common is confusing which pier you should go to and missing your river tour.

“I once bought tickets online to save with the discount that the website offered,” said Igor Shvarkin from Moscow. “The pier was initially marked as ‘Park Kultury,’ but when I arrived it wasn’t easy to find my boat because there were too many there. My guests had to walk a considerable distance before I finally found the vessel that accepted my tickets purchased online,” said the man.

There are two main boarding piers in the city center:  Hotel Ukraine  and  Park Kultury . Always take note of your particular berth when buying tickets online.

Where to sit onboard?

Even on a warm day, the headwind might be chilly for passengers on deck. Make sure you have warm clothes, or that the crew has blankets ready upon request.

The glass-encased hold makes the tour much more comfortable, but not at the expense of having an enjoyable experience.

Getting off the boat requires preparation as well. Ideally, you should be able to disembark on any pier along the way. In reality, passengers never know where the boat’s captain will make the next stop. Street hawkers often tell passengers in advance where they’ll be able to disembark. If you buy tickets online then you’ll have to research it yourself.

There’s a chance that the captain won’t make any stops at all and will take you back to where the tour began, which is the case with Flotilla Radisson. The safest option is to automatically expect that you’ll return to the pier where you started.

If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

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