LA STANZA DEI BACHI: English

Marconi’s wireless revolution began in a humble room on the second floor of Villa Griffone in Pontecchio. In the stanza dei bachi (silkworm room) the young inventor carried out his early experiments, paving the way to an adventurous journey that would lead him to the first transatlantic transmission (1901) and to many other notable achievements in science, technology and business.

A century later, a long-time admirer of Marconi’s genius began to reproduce those primitive radio devices, trying to revive the original pioneering spirit of the silkworm room. His aim was not to build historically accurate reproductions; instead he was more interested in showing the inner workings of the devices. After some years of scrupulous part-time work, he has assembled 25 beautiful working reproductions, made of oak wood, brass and other high-quality materials. These items represent the core of a larger early radio collection, that also includes original items, books and a few relics.

This web site was created in late 2011 in order to open this private collection to the virtual public of the Internet. At the moment only a small part of the collection is online: this project is a work in progress and will be completed by the end of 2012, through regular, hopefully weekly, updates. So stay tuned!

As you have probably already noticed, this web site is written in Italian and there are currently no plans to add an English version. However, the author is confident that you, international visitor, starting from this introductory page, can fully understand and enjoy the pictures of the collection.

REPRODUCTIONS

Poldhu transmitting station