Alfonso Marconi

Alfonso Marconi (1865 – 1936) was an Italian businessman and collector of stringed instruments, most famous for assisting his younger brother Guglielmo Marconi in his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission.

[5] Alfonso stood on one side of a hill near to the family home of Villa Griffone in Pontecchio, Italy, and fired a shot which was transmitted over the hill to Guglielmo: a distance of approximately 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi).

Guglielmo concluded that, with additional funding and research, a device could become capable of spanning greater distances and would prove valuable both commercially and militarily.

[6] Alfonso Marconi was a director of the American International Marine Communication Company and an avid collector of stringed instruments.

[7][8] He died suddenly at a London hotel on the evening of Friday 24 April 1936 following a heart attack (his brother died following a heart attack in 1937)[9] and is buried with his mother on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.