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148-743: Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi , today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave , DRM , medium wave , FM , satellite and the Internet . Since its inception, Vatican Radio has been maintained by the Jesuit Order . Vatican Radio preserved its independence during the rise of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany . Today, programming is produced by over 200 journalists located in 61 countries. Vatican Radio produces more than 42,000 hours of simultaneous broadcasting covering international news, religious celebrations, in-depth programs, and music. The current general director

296-463: A line of sight path, limiting its range to the visual horizon like existing forms of visual signalling. Hertz's death in 1894 brought published reviews of his earlier discoveries including a demonstration on the transmission and detection of radio waves by the British physicist Oliver Lodge and an article about Hertz's work by Augusto Righi . Righi's article renewed Marconi's interest in developing

444-727: A 500 kW transmitter for the Far East and Latin America. Radio Vaticana was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. In the 21st century, Vatican Radio has experimented with digital transmission technologies (DRM, T-DAB, T-DMB) and has used electronic newsletters, podcasts, and other new technologies to distribute its programming. Vatican Radio and CTV began their own YouTube channel in 2010, operating in four languages, and operates six Twitter accounts. In May 2009 it

592-638: A branch of the Bourbons ascended to the throne of Sicily and Naples. During the Napoleonic Wars , north and central Italy were reorganised as Sister Republics of France and, later, as a Kingdom of Italy . The south was administered by Joachim Murat , Napoleon's brother-in-law. 1814's Congress of Vienna restored the situation of the late 18th century, but the ideals of the French Revolution could not be eradicated, and re-surfaced during

740-492: A child and did not go on to formal higher education. Instead, he learned chemistry, mathematics, and physics at home from a series of private tutors hired by his parents. His family hired additional tutors for Marconi in the winter when they would leave Bologna for the warmer climate of Tuscany or Florence . Marconi noted an important mentor was professor Vincenzo Rosa, a high school physics teacher in Livorno . Rosa taught

888-525: A crucially innovative role in financial development by devising banking practices, and enabling new forms of social organisation. In coastal and southern areas, maritime republics dominated the Mediterranean and monopolised trade to the Orient. They were independent thalassocratic city-states, in which merchants had considerable power. Although oligarchical, the relative political freedom they afforded

1036-410: A dispute between the station and some local residents who claim the non-ionising radiation from the site has affected their health. Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi ( Italian: [ɡuʎˈʎɛlmo marˈkoːni] ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer , inventor, physicist and politician known for his creation of

1184-498: A distance of about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) across Salisbury Plain . On 13 May 1897, Marconi sent the first ever wireless communication over the open sea – a message was transmitted over the Bristol Channel from Flat Holm Island to Lavernock Point near Cardiff , a distance of 6 kilometres (3.7 mi). The message read "Are you ready". The transmitting equipment was almost immediately relocated to Brean Down Fort on

1332-533: A famous meeting between Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II , the last king of Sardinia, during which Garibaldi shook Victor Emanuel's hand and hailed him as King of Italy . Cavour agreed to include Garibaldi's southern Italy in a union with the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860. This allowed the Sardinian government to declare a united Italian kingdom on 17 March 1861, with Victor Emmanuel II as its first king. In 1865,

1480-562: A large shortwave and medium-wave transmission facility for Radio Vatican. The Santa Maria di Galeria Transmitter was established in 1957 and it is an extraterritorial area in Italy belonging to the Holy See. Vatican Radio's interval signal , Christus Vincit , is a well-known sound on shortwave radio. One aerial for the medium wave frequency 1530 kHz which consists of four 94-metre-high (308 ft) grounded freestanding towers arranged in

1628-756: A member of NATO . The Marshall Plan revived the economy, which, until the late 1960s, enjoyed a period called the Economic Miracle . In the 1950s, Italy became a founding country of the European Communities , a forerunner of the European Union. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, the country experienced the Years of Lead , characterised by economic difficulties, especially after the 1973 oil crisis ; social conflicts; and terrorist massacres. The economy recovered and Italy became

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1776-610: A member of the Fascist Grand Council . Marconi was an apologist for fascist ideology and actions such as the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War . In his lecture he stated: "I reclaim the honour of being the first fascist in the field of radiotelegraphy, the first who acknowledged the utility of joining the electric rays in a bundle, as Mussolini was the first in

1924-638: A patent on 2 June 1896. British Patent number 12039 titled "Improvements in Transmitting Electrical impulses and Signals, and in Apparatus therefor", which became the first patent for a communication system based on radio waves. Marconi made the first demonstration of his system for the British government in July 1896. A further series of demonstrations for the British followed, and, by March 1897, Marconi had transmitted Morse code signals over

2072-497: A patent was obtained. He also encouraged Marconi to come to Britain, where he believed it would be easier to find the necessary funds to convert his experiments into practical use. Finding little interest or appreciation for his work in Italy, Marconi travelled to London in early 1896 at the age of 21, accompanied by his mother, to seek support for his work. (He spoke fluent English in addition to Italian.) Marconi arrived at Dover , and

2220-647: A permanent seat in the League of Nations 's executive council. The socialist agitations that followed the devastation of the Great War, inspired by the Russian Revolution , led to counter-revolution and repression throughout Italy. The liberal establishment, fearing a Soviet-style revolution, started to endorse the small National Fascist Party , led by Mussolini. In October 1922, the Blackshirts of

2368-473: A practical radio wave -based wireless telegraph system. This led to Marconi being credited as the inventor of radio , and winning the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". His work laid the foundation for the development of radio, television , and all modern wireless communication systems. Marconi

2516-435: A radio transmitter and receiver to his mother, a set-up that made a bell ring on the other side of the room by pushing a telegraphic button on a bench. Supported by his father, Marconi continued to read through the literature and picked up on the ideas of physicists who were experimenting with radio waves. He developed devices, such as portable transmitters and receiver systems, that could work over long distances, turning what

2664-514: A reporter from The New York Times to talk with Bride, the surviving operator. After this incident, Marconi gained popularity and became more recognised for his contributions to the field of radio and wireless technology. On 18 June 1912, Marconi gave evidence to the Court of Inquiry into the loss of Titanic regarding the marine telegraphy's functions and the procedures for emergencies at sea. Britain's Postmaster-General summed up, referring to

2812-473: A reputation for being technically conservative, in particular by continuing to use inefficient spark-transmitter technology, which could be used only for radio-telegraph operations, long after it was apparent that the future of radio communication lay with continuous-wave transmissions which were more efficient and could be used for audio transmissions. Somewhat belatedly, the company did begin significant work with continuous-wave equipment beginning in 1915, after

2960-543: A revival of Italian republicanism. Italy became a republic after the 1946 Italian institutional referendum held on 2 June, a day celebrated since as Festa della Repubblica . This was the first time women voted nationally. Victor Emmanuel III's son, Umberto II , was forced to abdicate. The Republican Constitution was approved in 1948. Under the Treaty of Paris between Italy and the Allied Powers , areas next to

3108-822: A series of tests at La Spezia , in his home country, for the Italian government. A test for Lloyd's between The Marine Hotel in Ballycastle and Rathlin Island , both in County Antrim in Ulster , Ireland , was conducted on 6 July 1898 by George Kemp and Edward Edwin Glanville . A transmission across the English Channel was accomplished on 27 March 1899, from Wimereux , France to South Foreland Lighthouse , England. Marconi set up an experimental base at

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3256-734: A series of wars in the peninsula. During the High Renaissance , popes such as Julius II (1503–1513) fought for control of Italy against foreign monarchs; Paul III (1534–1549) preferred to mediate between the European powers to secure peace. In the middle of such conflicts, the Medici popes Leo X (1513–1521) and Clement VII (1523–1534) faced the Protestant Reformation in Germany, England and elsewhere. In 1559, at

3404-634: A signal on behalf of the merchant vessel Elbe which had run aground on Goodwin Sands . The message was received by the radio operator of the South Foreland lighthouse, who summoned the aid of the Ramsgate lifeboat. In the autumn of 1899, his first demonstration in the United States took place. Marconi had sailed to the U.S. at the invitation of The New York Herald newspaper to cover

3552-524: A son, Giulio, 2nd Marchese Marconi (1910–1971). In 1913, the Marconi family returned to Italy and became part of Rome society. Beatrice served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elena . At Marconi's request, his marriage to Beatrice was annulled on 27 April 1927, so he could remarry. Marconi and Beatrice had divorced on 12 February 1924 in the free city of Fiume ( Rijeka ). Marconi went on to marry Maria Cristina Bezzi-Scali (2 April 1900 – 15 July 1994),

3700-412: A square, which carry wires for a medium wave aerial on horizontal crossbars. The direction of this aerial can be changed. From May 2014 to December 2016 the antennas of Santa Maria di Galeria were progressively decommissioned, which radiated the medium wave signal on 1530 kHz with programs destined for Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean area. The Santa Maria di Galeria transmitter site is the subject of

3848-596: A transmission from the Marconi station in Glace Bay , Nova Scotia, Canada, became the world's first radio message to cross the Atlantic from North America. In 1901, Marconi built a station near South Wellfleet, Massachusetts , that sent a message of greetings on 18 January 1903 from United States President Theodore Roosevelt to King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. However, consistent transatlantic signalling

3996-581: A wireless telegraphy system based on radio waves, a line of inquiry that Marconi noted other inventors did not seem to be pursuing. At the age of 20, Marconi began to conduct experiments in radio waves, building much of his own equipment in the attic of his home at the Villa Griffone in Pontecchio (now an administrative subdivision of Sasso Marconi ), Italy, with the help of his butler, Mignani. Marconi built on Hertz's original experiments and, at

4144-566: Is Father Federico Lombardi , S.J. On 27 June 2015, Pope Francis , in a motu proprio apostolic letter , established the Secretariat for Communications in the Roman Curia , which absorbed Vatican Radio effective 1 January 2017, ending the organization's 85 years of independent operation. Vatican Radio began broadcasting with the callsign HVJ on two shortwave frequencies using 10 kilowatts (kW) of power on 12 February 1931, with

4292-676: Is available in English and Italian on the satellite through Eutelsat Hot Bird 13°est (11334 MHz, pol.H, Sr 27500,3/4) as well as on terrestrial TV in the Rome metropolitan area , and Vatican Media Europe multilanguage on Hot Bird 13B (12475 MHz, pol.H, Sr 29900, 3/4). Vatican Radio Europe is available via satellite through Eutelsat Hot Bird 13°est (12476 MHz, pol.H, Sr 29900, 3/4) and Radio Vaticana 5, in Italian Eutelsat 9B (12466 MHz, pol.V, Sr 41950, 3/4). The signals are transmitted from

4440-478: Is influenced by the seas that surround Italy on every side except the north, which constitute a reservoir of heat and humidity. Within the southern temperate zone, they determine a Mediterranean climate with local differences. Because of the length of the peninsula and the mostly mountainous hinterland, the climate is highly diverse. In most inland northern and central regions, the climate ranges from humid subtropical to humid continental and oceanic . The Po Valley

4588-599: Is mostly humid subtropical, with cool winters and hot summers. The coastal areas of Liguria , Tuscany, and most of the south generally fit the Mediterranean climate stereotype, as in the Köppen climate classification . Conditions on the coast are different from those in the interior, particularly during winter when the higher altitudes tend to be cold, wet, and often snowy. The coastal regions have mild winters, and hot and generally dry summers; lowland valleys are hot in summer. Winter temperatures vary from 0 °C (32 °F) in

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4736-503: Is the tenth-largest country in Europe by area, covering 301,340 km (116,350 sq mi), and third-most populous member state of the European Union , with a population of nearly 60 million. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome ; other major urban areas include Milan , Naples , Turin , Palermo , Bologna , Florence , Genoa , and Venice . The history of Italy goes back to numerous Italic peoples , notably including

4884-697: Is water. Including the islands, Italy has a coastline of 7,600 kilometres (4,722 miles) on the Mediterranean Sea , the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas, the Ionian Sea , and the Adriatic Sea . Its border with France runs for 488 km (303 mi); Switzerland, 740 km (460 mi); Austria, 430 km (267 mi); and Slovenia, 232 km (144 mi). The sovereign states of San Marino and Vatican City (the smallest country in

5032-701: The Elettra , was commandeered and refitted as a warship by the German Navy. She was sunk by the RAF on 22 January 1944. After the war, the Italian Government tried to retrieve the wreckage, to rebuild the boat, and the wreckage was removed to Italy. Eventually, the idea was abandoned, and the wreckage was cut into pieces which were distributed amongst Italian museums. In 1943, the Supreme Court of

5180-535: The Marchese Marconi suffered nine heart attacks in the span of three years preceding his death. Marconi died in Rome on 20 July 1937 at age 63, following the ninth, fatal, heart attack , and Italy held a state funeral for him. As a tribute, shops on the street where he lived were "Closed for national mourning". In addition, at 6 pm the next day, the time designated for the funeral, transmitters around

5328-670: The Oration on the Dignity of Man , considered the manifesto of the Renaissance. In the arts, the Italian Renaissance exercised a dominant influence on European art for centuries, with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci , Botticelli , Michelangelo , Raphael , Giotto , Donatello , and Titian , and architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi , Andrea Palladio , and Donato Bramante . Italian explorers and navigators from

5476-678: The Achaeans founded various cities. Greek colonisation placed the Italic peoples in contact with democratic forms of government and high artistic and cultural expressions. Ancient Rome, a settlement on the river Tiber in central Italy, founded in 753 BC, was ruled for 244 years by a monarchical system. In 509 BC, the Romans, favouring a government of the Senate and the People ( SPQR ), expelled

5624-622: The Adriatic Sea were annexed by Yugoslavia , resulting in the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus , which involved the emigration of around 300,000 Istrian and Dalmatian Italians . Italy lost all colonial possessions, ending the Italian Empire . Fears of a Communist takeover proved crucial in 1948 , when the Christian Democrats , under Alcide De Gasperi , won a landslide victory. Consequently, in 1949 Italy became

5772-721: The America's Cup international yacht races off Sandy Hook , New Jersey . The transmission was done aboard the SS Ponce , a passenger ship of the Porto Rico Line . Marconi left for England on 8 November 1899 on the American Line 's SS  Saint Paul , and he and his assistants installed wireless equipment aboard during the voyage. Before this voyage the Second Boer War had begun, and Marconi's wireless

5920-596: The BBC , and he spoke of the close association of aviation and wireless telephony in that same year at a private gathering with Florence Tyzack Parbury , and even spoke of interplanetary wireless communication. In 1924, the Marconi Company co-established the Unione Radiofonica Italiana (now RAI ). Have I done the world good, or have I added a menace? In 1914, Marconi was made a Senator in

6068-489: The Clean Hands investigation—demanded radical reform. The Christian Democrats, who had ruled for almost 50 years, underwent a crisis and disbanded, splitting into factions. The Communists reorganised as a social-democratic force. During the 1990s and 2000s, centre-right (dominated by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi ) and centre-left coalitions (led by professor Romano Prodi ) alternately governed. In 2011, amidst

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6216-831: The Crimean War . Sardinia fought the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence of 1859, with the aid of France, resulting in liberating Lombardy . On the basis of the Plombières Agreement , the Sardinia ceded Savoy and Nice to France, an event that caused the Niçard exodus . In 1860–1861, Garibaldi led the drive for unification in Naples and Sicily. Teano was the site of

6364-494: The Crusades , providing support, transport, but mostly taking political and trading opportunities. Italy first felt the economic changes which led to the commercial revolution : Venice was able to sack Byzantine's capital and finance Marco Polo 's voyages to Asia; the first universities were formed in Italian cities, and scholars such as Aquinas obtained international fame; capitalism and banking families emerged in Florence, where Dante and Giotto were active around 1300. In

6512-404: The Elettra ' s crew was Adelmo Landini , his personal radio operator, who was also an inventor. In December 1898, the British lightship service authorised the establishment of wireless communication between the South Foreland lighthouse at Dover and the East Goodwin lightship , twelve miles distant. On 17 March 1899, the East Goodwin lightship sent the first wireless distress signal ,

6660-434: The Empire of Japan , and strongly supported Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War . In 1939, Italy annexed Albania . Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940. At different times, Italians advanced in British Somaliland , Egypt , the Balkans , and eastern fronts. They were, however, defeated on the Eastern Front as well as in the East African and North African campaigns, losing their territories in Africa and

6808-475: The European Union  (light green)  –  [ Legend ] Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country in Southern and Western Europe . It consists of a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea , with the Alps on its northern land border, as well as nearly 800 islands, notably Sicily and Sardinia . Italy shares its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and two enclaves: Vatican City and San Marino . It

6956-417: The Expedition of the Thousand , establishing the Kingdom of Italy . From the late 19th to the early 20th century, Italy rapidly industrialised, mainly in the north, and acquired a colonial empire , while the south remained largely impoverished, fueling a large immigrant diaspora to the Americas. From 1915 to 1918, Italy took part in World War I with the Entente against the Central Powers . In 1922,

7104-429: The Great Recession , Berlusconi resigned and was replaced by the technocratic cabinet of Mario Monti . In 2014, Matteo Renzi became prime minister and the government started constitutional reform. This was rejected in a 2016 referendum and Paolo Gentiloni became prime minister. During the European migrant crisis of the 2010s, Italy was the entry point and leading destination for most asylum seekers entering

7252-440: The Gregorian calendar ; the Jesuit China mission ; the French Wars of Religion ; end of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648); and the Great Turkish War . The Italian economy declined in the 1600s and 1700s. During the war of the Spanish succession (1700–1714), Austria acquired most of the Spanish domains in Italy, namely Milan, Naples and Sardinia; the latter was given to the House of Savoy in exchange for Sicily in 1720. Later,

7400-423: The Haven Hotel , Sandbanks , Poole Harbour , Dorset , where he erected a 100-foot high mast. He became friends with the van Raaltes, the owners of Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, and his steam yacht, the Elettra , was often moored on Brownsea or at The Haven Hotel. Marconi purchased the vessel after the Great War and converted it to a seaborne laboratory from where he conducted many of his experiments. Among

7548-401: The House of Savoy to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire Italian Peninsula . By the mid-19th century, rising Italian nationalism led to revolution. Following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the political and social Italian unification movement, or Risorgimento , emerged to unite Italy by consolidating the states and liberating them from foreign control. A radical figure was

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7696-428: The Italian Peninsula , Sicily and Sardinia (the biggest islands of the Mediterranean), and many smaller islands . Some of Italy's territory extends beyond the Alpine basin, and some islands are located outside the Eurasian continental shelf. The country's area is 301,230 square kilometres (116,306 sq mi), of which 294,020 km (113,522 sq mi) is land and 7,210 km (2,784 sq mi)

7844-416: The Italian fascist dictatorship was established. During World War II , Italy was first part of the Axis until its surrender to the Allied powers (1940–1943), then a co-belligerent of the Allies during the Italian resistance and the liberation of Italy (1943–1945). Following the war, the monarchy was replaced by a republic and the country enjoyed a strong recovery . A developed country , Italy has

7992-418: The Italic peoples . The main historic peoples of possible non-Indo-European or pre-Indo-European heritage include the Etruscans , the Elymians and Sicani of Sicily, and the prehistoric Sardinians , who gave birth to the Nuragic civilisation . Other ancient populations include the Rhaetian people and Camunni , known for their rock drawings in Valcamonica . A natural mummy, Ötzi , dated 3400–3100 BC,

8140-461: The Kvarner Gulf , and the Dalmatian city of Zara . The subsequent Treaty of Rome (1924) led to annexation of Fiume by Italy. Italy did not receive other territories promised by the Treaty of London, so this outcome was denounced as a " mutilated victory ", by Benito Mussolini , which helped lead to the rise of Italian fascism . Historians regard "mutilated victory" as a "political myth", used by fascists to fuel Italian imperialism . Italy gained

8288-408: The Middle East . In the wake of Julius Caesar 's assassination in 44 BC, Rome grew into a massive empire stretching from Britain to the borders of Persia , engulfing the whole Mediterranean basin, in which Greek, Roman, and other cultures merged into a powerful civilisation. The long reign of the first emperor, Augustus , began an age of peace and prosperity. Roman Italy remained the metropole of

8436-479: The National Republican Army . German troops, with RSI collaboration, committed massacres and deported thousands of Jews to death camps. The post-armistice period saw the emergence of the Italian Resistance , who fought a guerrilla war against the Nazi German occupiers and collaborators. This has been described as an Italian civil war due to fighting between partisans and fascist RSI forces. In April 1945, with defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north, but

8584-445: The Norse ; and Amerigo Vespucci , for whom the continent of America is named. A defensive alliance known as the Italic League was formed between Venice, Naples, Florence, Milan, and the Papacy. Lorenzo the Magnificent de Medici was the Renaissance's greatest patron, his support allowed the League to abort invasion by the Turks. The alliance, however, collapsed in the 1490s; the invasion of Charles VIII of France initiated

8732-482: The Senate of the Kingdom of Italy and appointed Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the UK. During World War I , Italy joined the Allied side of the conflict, and Marconi was placed in charge of the Italian military's radio service. He attained the rank of lieutenant in the Italian Royal Army and of commander in the Regia Marina . In 1929, he was made a marquess by King Victor Emmanuel III . While helping to develop microwave technology,

8880-516: The Somerset coast, stretching the range to 16 kilometres (9.9 mi). Impressed by these and other demonstrations, Preece introduced Marconi's ongoing work to the general public at two important London lectures: "Telegraphy without Wires", at the Toynbee Hall on 11 December 1896; and "Signalling through Space without Wires", given to the Royal Institution on 4 June 1897. Numerous additional demonstrations followed, and Marconi began to receive international attention. In July 1897, he carried out

9028-411: The Titanic disaster: "Those who have been saved, have been saved through one man, Mr. Marconi ... and his marvellous invention." Marconi was offered free passage on Titanic before she sank, but had taken Lusitania three days earlier. As his daughter Degna later explained, he had paperwork to do and preferred the public stenographer aboard that vessel. Over the years, the Marconi companies gained

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9176-414: The White Star Line but by the Marconi International Marine Communication Company . After the sinking of the ocean liner, survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia of the Cunard Line . Carpathia took a total of 17 minutes to both receive and decode the SOS signal sent by Titanic . There was a distance of 58 miles between the two ships. When Carpathia docked in New York, Marconi went aboard with

9324-520: The ancient Romans , who conquered the Mediterranean world during the Roman Republic and ruled it for centuries during the Roman Empire . With the spread of Christianity, Rome became the seat of the Catholic Church and the Papacy . Between late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages , Italy experienced the arrival of Germanic tribes and the fall of the Western Roman Empire . By the 11th century, Italian city-states and maritime republics expanded, bringing renewed prosperity through commerce and laying

9472-405: The collapse of the Fascist regime on 25 July. Mussolini was deposed and arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III. On 8 September, Italy signed the Armistice of Cassibile , ending its war with the Allies. The Germans, with the assistance of Italian fascists, succeeded in taking control of north and central Italy. The country remained a battlefield, with the Allies moving up from the south. In

9620-412: The eponymous geographical region , is located in Southern Europe (and is also considered part of Western Europe ) between latitudes 35° and 47° N , and longitudes 6° and 19° E . To the north, from west to east, Italy borders France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia, and is roughly delimited by the Alpine watershed , enclosing the Po Valley and the Venetian Plain . It consists of the entirety of

9768-406: The ninth-largest nominal GDP in the world, the second-largest manufacturing industry in Europe, and plays a significant role in regional and global economic, military, cultural, and diplomatic affairs. Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Union, and is part of numerous international institutions, including NATO , the G7 and G20 , the Latin Union and the Union for

9916-437: The political upheavals that characterised the early 19th century. The first adoption of the Italian tricolour by an Italian state, the Cispadane Republic , occurred during Napoleonic Italy , following the French Revolution, which advocated national self-determination . This event is celebrated by Tricolour Day . The birth of the Kingdom of Italy was the result of efforts of Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to

10064-401: The 1400s and 1500s, Italy was the birthplace and heart of the Renaissance . This era marked the transition from the medieval period to the modern age and was fostered by the wealth accumulated by merchant cities and the patronage of dominant families. Italian polities were now regional states effectively ruled by princes, in control of trade and administration, and their courts became centres of

10212-407: The 17-year-old Marconi the basics of physical phenomena as well as new theories on electricity. At the age of 18 and back in Bologna, Marconi became acquainted with University of Bologna physicist Augusto Righi , who had done research on Heinrich Hertz 's work. Righi permitted Marconi to attend lectures at the university and also to use the university's laboratory and library. From youth, Marconi

10360-432: The 1930s, the station made experimental television broadcasts. Apart from a brief experimental revival in the 1950s (callsign HVJ, started 1953. Channel 8 on the French standard for VHF, had plans to switch to the standard used in the rest of Europe), it was not until the 1990s that a regular 'satellite' television service began. The programs of TV2000 include programming from Vatican Television Center . Vatican Channel HD

10508-500: The Adriatic or Tyrrhenian Sea. The longest is the Po , which flows from the Alps on the western border, and crosses the Padan plain to the Adriatic. The Po Valley is the largest plain, with 46,000 km (18,000 sq mi), and contains over 70% of the country's lowlands . The largest lakes are, in descending size: Garda (367.94 km or 142 sq mi), Maggiore (212.51 km or 82 sq mi), and Como (145.9 km or 56 sq mi). The climate

10656-838: The Alps form most of its northern boundary, where Italy's highest point is located on the summit of Mont Blanc ( Monte Bianco ) at 4,810 m (15,780 ft). Other well-known mountains include the Matterhorn ( Monte Cervino ) in the western Alps, and the Dolomites in the eastern Alps. Many parts of Italy are of volcanic origin . Most small islands and archipelagos in the south are volcanic islands . There are active volcanoes: Mount Etna in Sicily (the largest in Europe), Vulcano , Stromboli , and Vesuvius . Most rivers of Italy drain into

10804-458: The Balkans. Italian war crimes included extrajudicial killings and ethnic cleansing by deportation of about 25,000 people—mainly Yugoslavs—to Italian concentration camps and elsewhere. Yugoslav Partisans perpetrated their own crimes against the ethnic Italian population during and after the war, including the foibe massacres . An Allied invasion of Sicily began in July 1943, leading to

10952-616: The Church and new political dynasties. In 1453, despite activity by Pope Nicholas V to support the Byzantines, the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottomans . This led to the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy, fuelling the rediscovery of Greek humanism . Humanist rulers such as Federico da Montefeltro and Pope Pius II worked to establish ideal cities , founding Urbino and Pienza . Pico della Mirandola wrote

11100-509: The Curia's Secretariat for Communications on 1 January 2017 Vatican Radio director Msgr. Dario Viganò has indicated that he plans to pare down short-wave radio operations and institute cost control measures in the service's other broadcast operations. On 24 March 2017, Vatican Radio made its final English-language shortwave transmission to Asia after 59 years of service. Vatican Radio's English Service for Asia has then continued online. During

11248-835: The Customs officer opened his case to find various apparatuses. The customs officer immediately contacted the Admiralty in London. With worries in the UK about Italian anarchists and suspicion Marconi was importing a bomb, his equipment was destroyed. While in the UK, Marconi gained the interest and support of William Preece , the Chief Electrical Engineer of the General Post Office (the GPO). Marconi applied for

11396-537: The EU. Between 2013 and 2018, it took in over 700,000 migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, which put a strain on the public purse and led to a surge in support for far-right or euro-sceptic parties. After the 2018 general election , Giuseppe Conte became prime minister of a populist coalition . With more than 155,000 victims, Italy was one of the countries with the most deaths in the COVID-19 pandemic and one of

11544-777: The First World War in 1915 with the aim of completing national unity, so it is also considered the Fourth Italian War of Independence, from a historiographical perspective, as the conclusion of the unification of Italy . Italy, nominally allied with German and the Austro-Hungarian empires in the Triple Alliance , in 1915 joined the Allies , entering World War I with a promise of substantial territorial gains that included west Inner Carniola ,

11692-622: The Italian Front, secured dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and was instrumental in ending the war less than two weeks later. During the war, more than 650,000 Italian soldiers and as many civilians died, and the kingdom was on the brink of bankruptcy. The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) and Treaty of Rapallo (1920) allowed for annexation of Trentino Alto-Adige , the Julian March , Istria ,

11840-529: The Italian Ministry of Post and Telegraphs, then under the direction of Maggiorino Ferraris, explaining his wireless telegraph machine and asking for funding, but never received a response. An apocryphal tale claims that the minister (incorrectly named first as Emilio Sineo, later as Pietro Lacava ) wrote "to the Longara" on the document, referring to the insane asylum on Via della Lungara in Rome, but

11988-474: The Mediterranean . As a cultural superpower , Italy has long been a renowned global centre of art , music , literature , cuisine , fashion , science and technology , and the source of multiple inventions and discoveries . It has the highest number of World Heritage Sites ( 60 ) and is the fifth-most visited country in the world. Hypotheses for the etymology of Italia are numerous. One theory suggests it originated from an Ancient Greek term for

12136-587: The National Fascist Party organised a mass demonstration and the " March on Rome " coup . King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini as prime minister, transferring power to the fascists without armed conflict. Mussolini banned political parties and curtailed personal liberties, establishing a dictatorship. These actions attracted international attention and inspired similar dictatorships in Nazi Germany and Francoist Spain . Fascism

12284-792: The Needles Station at the Isle of Wight, was published on board the SS Saint Paul before its arrival. At the turn of the 20th century, Marconi began investigating a means to signal across the Atlantic to compete with the transatlantic telegraph cables . Marconi established a wireless transmitting station at Marconi House, Rosslare Strand , County Wexford , in 1901 to act as a link between Poldhu in Cornwall , England, and Clifden in Connemara , County Galway , Ireland. He soon made

12432-756: The Papacy, with city-states siding with the former ( Ghibellines ) or with the latter ( Guelphs ) for momentary advantage. The Germanic emperor and Roman pontiff became the universal powers of medieval Europe. However, conflict over the Investiture Controversy and between Guelphs and Ghibellines ended the imperial-feudal system in the north, where cities gained independence. In 1176, the Lombard League of city-states, defeated Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa , ensuring their independence. City-states—e.g. Milan , Florence, Venice —played

12580-552: The United States handed down a decision on Marconi's radio patents restoring some of the prior patents of Oliver Lodge , John Stone Stone , and Nikola Tesla . The decision was not about Marconi's original radio patents and the court declared that their decision had no bearing on Marconi's claim as the first to achieve radio transmission, just that since Marconi's claim to certain patents was questionable, he could not claim infringement on those same patents. There are claims

12728-476: The announcement that the message was received at Signal Hill in St. John's , Newfoundland (now part of Canada ), on 12 December 1901, using a 500-foot (150 m) kite-supported antenna for reception – signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at Poldhu , Cornwall. The distance between the two points was about 2,200 miles (3,500 km). It was heralded as a great scientific advance, yet there also

12876-577: The arts and sciences. These princedoms were led by political dynasties and merchant families, such as the Medici of Florence. After the end of the Western Schism , newly elected Pope Martin V returned to the Papal States and restored Italy as the sole centre of Western Christianity. The Medici Bank was made the credit institution of the Papacy, and significant ties were established between

13024-407: The company struggled for many years to provide reliable communication to others. The role played by Marconi Co. wireless in maritime rescues raised public awareness of the value of radio and brought fame to Marconi, particularly the sinking of RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912 and RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915. RMS Titanic radio operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were not employed by

13172-677: The daytime is not possible because of the heavy absorption of the skywave in the ionosphere. It was not a blind test; Marconi knew in advance to listen for a repetitive signal of three clicks, signifying the Morse code letter S . The clicks were reported to have been heard faintly and sporadically. There was no independent confirmation of the reported reception, and the transmissions were difficult to distinguish from atmospheric noise. A detailed technical review of Marconi's early transatlantic work appears in John S. Belrose's work of 1995. The Poldhu transmitter

13320-684: The emergence of Christianity as a world religion, are among the many legacies of Roman dominance. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , Italy fell under the Odoacer's kingdom , and was seized by the Ostrogoths . Invasions resulted in a chaotic succession of kingdoms and the supposed " Dark Ages ". The invasion of another Germanic tribe in the 6th century, the Lombards, reduced Byzantine presence and ended political unity of

13468-446: The empire, homeland of the Romans and territory of the capital. As Roman provinces were being established throughout the Mediterranean, Italy maintained a special status which made it domina provinciarum ('ruler of the provinces'), and—especially in relation to the first centuries of imperial stability — rectrix mundi ('governor of the world') and omnium terrarum parens ('parent of all lands'). The Roman Empire

13616-778: The end of the Italian wars between France and the Habsburgs, about half of Italy (the southern Kingdoms of Naples , Sicily , Sardinia , and the Duchy of Milan ) was under Spanish rule, while the other half remained independent (many states continued to be formally part of the Holy Roman Empire). The Papacy launched the Counter-Reformation , whose key events include: the Council of Trent (1545–1563); adoption of

13764-559: The entire peninsula south of the Alps. In 264 BC, Roman Italy extended from the Arno and Rubicon rivers of the centre-north to the entire south. The northern area, Cisalpine Gaul , considered geographically part of Italy, was occupied by Rome in the 220s BC, but remained politically separated. It was legally merged into the administrative unit of Italy in 42 BC. Sardinia, Corsica , Sicily, and Malta were added to Italy by Diocletian in 292 AD, which made late-ancient Italy coterminous with

13912-426: The first person with Down Syndrome to work at any Vatican office, which he did as an intern at Vatican Radio. As of 2016, Vatican Radio had a staff of 355 people who produce more than 66 hours of daily programming in 45 languages on air, and 38 languages on the website. Programs are broadcast via short wave, FM and satellite. Vatican Radio has been losing between €20 and €30 million annually. With its absorption into

14060-692: The first to show that radio signals for medium wave and longwave transmissions travel much farther at night than during the day. During the daytime, signals had been received up to only about 700 miles (1,100 km), less than half of the distance claimed earlier at Newfoundland, where the transmissions had also taken place during the day. Because of this, Marconi had not fully confirmed the Newfoundland claims, although he did prove that radio signals could be sent for hundreds of kilometres (miles), despite some scientists' belief that they were limited essentially to line-of-sight distances. On 17 December 1902,

14208-635: The former Austrian Littoral , and Dalmatia , as well as parts of the Ottoman Empire . The country's contribution to the Allied victory earned it a place as one of the " Big Four " powers. Reorganisation of the army and conscription led to Italian victories. In October 1918, the Italians launched a massive offensive, culminating in victory at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto . This marked the end of war on

14356-506: The frequency of the waves compared to the dipole antennas used by Hertz, and radiated vertically polarized radio waves which could travel longer distances. By this point, he concluded that a device could become capable of spanning greater distances, with additional funding and research, and would prove valuable both commercially and militarily. Marconi's experimental apparatus proved to be the first engineering-complete, commercially successful radio transmission system. Marconi applied to

14504-538: The groundwork for modern capitalism. The Italian Renaissance flourished during the 15th and 16th centuries and spread to the rest of Europe. Italian explorers discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World , contributing significantly to the European Age of Discovery . After centuries of political and territorial divisions, Italy was almost entirely unified in 1861, following wars of independence and

14652-634: The high court was trying to nullify a World War I claim against the United States government by the Marconi Company via simply restoring the non-Marconi prior patent. Marconi was a friend of Charles van Raalte and his wife Florence, the owners of Brownsea Island ; and of Margherita, their daughter, and in 1904 he met her Irish friend, The Hon. Beatrice O'Brien (1882–1976), a daughter of The 14th Baron Inchiquin . On 16 March 1905, Beatrice O'Brien and Marconi were married, and spent their honeymoon on Brownsea Island. They had three daughters, Lucia (born and died 1906), Degna (1908–1998), and Gioia (1916–1996), and

14800-596: The introduction of the oscillating vacuum tube (valve). The New Street Works factory in Chelmsford was the location for the first entertainment radio broadcasts in the United Kingdom in 1920, employing a vacuum tube transmitter and featuring Dame Nellie Melba . In 1922, regular entertainment broadcasts commenced from the Marconi Research Centre at Great Baddow , forming the prelude to

14948-703: The kingdom's capital was moved from Turin to Florence. In 1866, Victor Emmanuel II, allied with Prussia during the Austro-Prussian War , waged the Third Italian War of Independence , which resulted in Italy annexing Venetia . Finally, in 1870, as France abandoned Rome during the Franco-Prussian War , the Italians captured the Papal States , unification was completed, and the capital moved to Rome. Sardinia's constitution

15096-643: The land of the Italói , a tribe that resided in the region now known as Calabria . Originally thought to be named Vituli , some scholars suggest their totemic animal to be the calf ( Latin : vitulus ; Umbrian : vitlo ; Oscan : Víteliú ). Several ancient authors said it was named after a local ruler Italus . The ancient Greek term for Italy initially referred only to the south of the Bruttium peninsula and parts of Catanzaro and Vibo Valentia . The larger concept of Oenotria and "Italy" became synonymous, and

15244-642: The letter was never found. In 1896, Marconi spoke with his family friend Carlo Gardini, Honorary Consul at the United States Consulate in Bologna, about leaving Italy to go to Great Britain . Gardini wrote a letter of introduction to the Ambassador of Italy in London, Annibale Ferrero, explaining who Marconi was and about his extraordinary discoveries. In his response, Ambassador Ferrero advised them not to reveal Marconi's results until after

15392-620: The maritime republics, eager to find an alternative route to the Indies to bypass the Ottomans, offered their services to monarchs of Atlantic countries and played a key role in ushering the Age of Discovery and colonization of the Americas. The most notable were: Christopher Columbus , who opened the Americas for conquest by Europeans; John Cabot , the first European to explore North America since

15540-449: The maximum transmission distance for radio waves. A breakthrough came in the summer of 1895, when Marconi found that a much greater range could be achieved after he raised the height of his antenna and, borrowing from a technique used in wired telegraphy, grounded his transmitter and receiver. With these improvements, the system was capable of transmitting signals up to 2 miles (3.2 km) and over hills. The monopole antenna reduced

15688-629: The microphone: "With the help of God, who places so many mysterious forces of nature at man's disposal, I have been able to prepare this instrument which will give to the faithful of the entire world the joy of listening to the voice of the Holy Father". Marconi joined the National Fascist Party in 1923. In 1930, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini appointed him President of the Royal Academy of Italy , which made Marconi

15836-589: The modern Italian geographical region . The Latin Italicus was used to describe "a man of Italy" as opposed to a provincial , or one from the Roman province . The adjective italianus , from which Italian was derived, is from medieval Latin and was used alternatively with Italicus during the early modern period . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy

15984-420: The monarchy and established an oligarchic republic. The Italian Peninsula, named Italia , was consolidated into a unified entity during Roman expansion, the conquest of new territories often at the expense of the other Italic tribes , Etruscans , Celts , and Greeks . A permanent association, with most of the local tribes and cities, was formed, and Rome began the conquest of Western Europe, North Africa, and

16132-519: The most affected economically . In February 2021, after a government crisis , Conte resigned. Mario Draghi , former president of the European Central Bank , formed a national unity government supported by most main parties, pledging to implement an economic stimulus to face the crisis caused by the pandemic. In 2022, Giorgia Meloni was sworn in as Italy's first female prime minister. Italy, whose territory largely coincides with

16280-628: The name applied to most of Lucania as well. Before the Roman Republic's expansion, the name was used by Greeks for the land between the strait of Messina and the line connecting the gulfs of Salerno and Taranto , corresponding to Calabria. The Greeks came to apply "Italia" to a larger region. In addition to the " Greek Italy " in the south, historians have suggested the existence of an "Etruscan Italy", which consisted of areas of central Italy. The borders of Roman Italy , Italia , are better established. Cato's Origines describes Italy as

16428-676: The north, the Germans set up the Italian Social Republic (RSI), a Nazi puppet state and collaborationist regime with Mussolini installed as leader after he was rescued by German paratroopers. What remained of the Italian troops was organised into the Italian Co-belligerent Army , which fought alongside the Allies, while other Italian forces, loyal to Mussolini, opted to fight alongside the Germans in

16576-519: The only daughter of Francesco, Count Bezzi-Scali. To do this he had to be confirmed in the Catholic faith and became a devout member of the Church. He was baptised Catholic but had been brought up as a member of the Anglican Church . On 12 June 1927, Marconi married Maria Cristina in a civil service, with a religious ceremony performed on 15 June. Marconi was 53 years old and Maria Cristina

16724-647: The open. Places and organisations named after Marconi include: The asteroid 1332 Marconia is named in his honour. A large crater on the far side of the Moon is also named after him. The Marconi Wireless Company of America, the world's first radio company, was incorporated in Roselle Park New Jersey, on West Westfield Avenue, on 22 November 1899. Italian Republic – in Europe  (light green & dark grey) – in

16872-741: The oppression of the Catholic Church in Poland, Pope Pius XII decided, among other measures, to use Vatican Radio to provide "information regarding the condition of the church in Poland." The German broadcast on 21 January 1940 compared German activities to "what the Communists imposed on Spain in 1936"; the English service noted the attacks on the Church were not limited to the Soviets. During World War II , Vatican Radio's news broadcasts were (like all foreign broadcasts) banned in Germany. During

17020-433: The papacy, Castel Gandolfo . In 1936, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recognized Vatican Radio as a "special case" and authorized its broadcasting without any geographical limits. On 25 December 1937 a Telefunken 25 kW transmitter and two directional antennas were added. Vatican Radio broadcast over 10 frequencies. Following a December 1939 report from Cardinal August Hlond of Poznań detailing

17168-399: The patriotic journalist Giuseppe Mazzini , founder of the political movement Young Italy in the 1830s, who favoured a unitary republic and advocated a broad nationalist movement. 1847 saw the first public performance of " Il Canto degli Italiani ", which became the national anthem in 1946. The most famous member of Young Italy was the revolutionary and general Giuseppe Garibaldi who led

17316-406: The peninsula. The north formed the Lombard kingdom, central-south was also controlled by the Lombards, and other parts remained Byzantine. The Lombard kingdom was absorbed into Francia by Charlemagne in the late 8th century and became the Kingdom of Italy. The Franks helped form the Papal States . Until the 13th century, politics was dominated by relations between the Holy Roman Emperors and

17464-403: The political field who acknowledged the necessity of merging all the healthy energies of the country into a bundle, for the greater greatness of Italy". Not one Jew was allowed to join the Royal Academy during Marconi's tenure as president from 1930, three years before Adolf Hitler took power in Germany and eight years before Benito Mussolini 's race laws brought his regime's antisemitism into

17612-405: The pontificial message "Omni creaturae" of Pope Pius XI . Also in attendance was Guglielmo Marconi and Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who would become Pope Pius XII . Its first director was physicist Giuseppe Gianfranceschi , who was also the president of the Accademia dei Nuovi Lincei . In 1933, a permanent microwave link was established between the Vatican Palace and the summer residence of

17760-469: The republican drive for unification in southern Italy. However, the Italian monarchy of the House of Savoy, in the Kingdom of Sardinia , whose government was led by Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , also had ambitions of establishing a united Italian state. In the context of the 1848 liberal revolutions that swept Europe, an unsuccessful First Italian War of Independence was declared against Austria . In 1855, Sardinia became an ally of Britain and France in

17908-498: The sanctity of life and the unity of humankind. In so doing the Pope pursued a policy of spiritual resistance to Nazi ideology and racism. In 1948, services expanded to 18 languages. Due to space constraints, the Holy See acquired a 400- hectare (1½ sq. mi.) area located 18 kilometres (11 miles) north of Rome at Santa Maria di Galeria (GC: 42°2′39″N 12°19′22″E  /  42.04417°N 12.32278°E  / 42.04417; 12.32278 ). The Italian Republic granted

18056-492: The second son of Giuseppe Marconi (an Italian aristocratic landowner from Porretta Terme who lived in the countryside of Pontecchio ) and his Irish wife Annie Jameson (daughter of Andrew Jameson of Daphne Castle in County Wexford , and granddaughter of John Jameson, the Scottish founder of whiskey distillers Jameson & Sons ). His father, who was a widower with a son, Luigi, married Jameson on 16 April 1864 in Boulogne-sur-Mer , France. Alfonso, Marconi's older brother,

18204-434: The site extraterritorial status in 1952. In 1957, a new broadcasting center was placed in operation, with a Philips 100 kW shortwave transmitter, two 10 kW shortwave transmitters, and one 120 kW mediumwave transmitter, with 21 directional and one omnidirectional antenna . The next phase involved two 100 kW transmitters aimed at Africa and Oceania , a 250 kW mediumwave transmitter for Europe, and

18352-408: The south, Sicily had become an Arab Islamic emirate in the 9th century, thriving until the Italo-Normans conquered it in the late 11th century, together with most of the Lombard and Byzantine principalities of southern Italy. The region was subsequently divided between the Kingdom of Sicily and Kingdom of Naples . The Black Death of 1348 killed perhaps a third of Italy's population. During

18500-451: The suggestion of Righi, began using a coherer , an early detector based on the 1890 findings of French physicist Édouard Branly and used in Lodge's experiments, that changed resistance when exposed to radio waves. In the summer of 1894, he built a storm alarm made up of a battery, a coherer, and an electric bell, which went off when it picked up the radio waves generated by lightning. Late one night, in December 1894, Marconi demonstrated

18648-405: The traditional liberal and conservative establishment. In the last two decades of the 19th century, Italy developed into a colonial power by subjugating Eritrea , Somalia , Tripolitania , and Cyrenaica in Africa. In 1913, male universal suffrage was adopted. The pre- World War I period was dominated by Giovanni Giolitti , prime minister five times between 1892 and 1921. Italy entered into

18796-402: The war, the radio service operated in four languages. While some critics have said Pope Pius XII was too quiet regarding the Holocaust, Jacques Adler examined the transcripts of wartime broadcasts over the Vatican Radio. Adler argues that it exposed Nazi persecution of the Church and opposed collaboration with Nazism. It appealed to Catholics to remain true to their faith's injunctions: to defend

18944-432: The work of James Clerk Maxwell . At the time, this radiation was commonly called "Hertzian" waves, and is now generally referred to as radio waves . There was a great deal of interest in radio waves in the physics community, but this interest was in the scientific phenomenon, not in its potential as a communication method. Physicists generally looked on radio waves as an invisible form of light that could only travel along

19092-419: The world and headquarters of the worldwide Catholic Church under the governance of the Holy See ) are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The border with San Marino is 39 km (24 mi) long, that with Vatican City, 3.2 km (2.0 mi). Over 35% of Italian territory is mountainous. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone, and

19240-422: The world observed two minutes of silence in his honour. The British Post Office also sent a message requesting that all broadcasting ships honour Marconi with two minutes of broadcasting silence. His remains are housed in the Mausoleum of Guglielmo Marconi in the grounds of Villa Griffone at Sasso Marconi , Emilia-Romagna, which assumed that name in his honour in 1938. In 1943, Marconi's elegant sailing yacht,

19388-400: The world's fifth-largest industrial nation after it gained entry into the G7 in the 1970s. However, national debt skyrocketed past 100% of GDP. Between 1992 and 1993, Italy faced terror attacks perpetrated by the Sicilian Mafia as a consequence of new anti-mafia measures by the government. Voters—disenchanted with political paralysis, massive public debt and extensive corruption uncovered by

19536-413: Was 26. They had one daughter, Maria Elettra Elena Anna (born 1930), who married Prince Carlo Giovannelli (1942–2016) in 1966; they later divorced. For unexplained reasons, Marconi left his entire fortune to his second wife and their only child, and nothing to the children of his first marriage. Marconi wanted to personally introduce in 1931 the first radio broadcast of a Pope, Pius XI , and announced at

19684-481: Was a two-stage circuit. Feeling challenged by sceptics, Marconi prepared a better-organised and documented test. In February 1902, the SS Philadelphia sailed west from Great Britain with Marconi aboard, carefully recording signals sent daily from the Poldhu station. The test results produced coherer-tape reception up to 1,550 miles (2,490 km), and audio reception up to 2,100 miles (3,400 km). The maximum distances were achieved at night, and these tests were

19832-427: Was also an entrepreneur, businessman, and founder of The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company in the United Kingdom in 1897 (which became the Marconi Company ). In 1929, Marconi was ennobled as a Marchese (marquis) by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, and, in 1931, he set up Vatican Radio for Pope Pius XI . Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi was born in Palazzo Marescalchi in Bologna on 25 April 1874,

19980-422: Was among the largest in history, wielding great economical, cultural, political, and military power. At its greatest extent, it had an area of 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles). The Roman legacy has deeply influenced Western civilisation shaping the modern world. The widespread use of Romance languages derived from Latin, numerical system , modern Western alphabet and calendar, and

20128-527: Was announced that Vatican Radio would begin broadcasting commercial advertisements for the first time in July. The decision was made to meet the radio's rising costs, namely 21.4m euros a year. All advertisements would have to meet "high moral standards". Vatican Radio stopped transmitting short- and medium-wave broadcasts to North America , South America , and Europe on Sunday 1 July 2012. The Vatican Press Office closed Vatican Information Service in August 2012. In 2014 Michael Gannon, from Ireland, became

20276-458: Was based upon Italian nationalism and imperialism, seeking to expand Italian possessions via irredentist claims based on the legacy of the Roman and Venetian empires. For this reason the fascists engaged in interventionist foreign policy . In 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and founded Italian East Africa , resulting in international isolation and leading to Italy's withdrawal from the League of Nations . Italy then allied with Nazi Germany and

20424-471: Was born in 1865. Between the ages of two and six, Marconi and Alfonso lived with their mother in the English town of Bedford . Having an Irish mother helped explain Marconi's many activities in Great Britain and Ireland. When he was three years old, on 4 May 1877, Giuseppe Marconi decided to obtain British citizenship. Marconi could have thus also opted for British citizenship anytime, as both his parents had British citizenship. Marconi did not attend school as

20572-417: Was captured and summarily executed by partisans. Hostilities ended on 29 April 1945, when the German forces in Italy surrendered . Nearly half a million Italians died in the conflict, society was divided, and the economy all but destroyed—per capita income in 1944 was at its lowest point since 1900. The aftermath left Italy angry with the monarchy for its endorsement of the Fascist regime, contributing to

20720-560: Was conducive to academic and artistic advancement. The best-known maritime republics were Venice, Genoa , Pisa , and Amalfi . Each had dominion over overseas lands, islands, lands on the Adriatic, Aegean, and Black seas, and commercial colonies in the Near East and North Africa. Venice and Genoa were Europe's gateways to the East, and producers of fine glass, while Florence was a centre of silk, wool, banking, and jewellery. The wealth generated meant large public and private artistic projects could be commissioned. The republics participated in

20868-530: Was created. After the Lombard invasions, Italia was retained as the name for their kingdom, and its successor kingdom within the Holy Roman Empire . Lower Paleolithic artefacts, dating back 850,000 years, have been recovered from Monte Poggiolo . Excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence in the Middle Palaeolithic period 200,000 years ago, while modern humans appeared about 40,000 years ago at Riparo Mochi . The ancient peoples of pre-Roman Italy were Indo-European , specifically

21016-491: Was difficult to establish. Marconi began to build high-powered stations on both sides of the Atlantic to communicate with ships at sea, in competition with other inventors. In 1904, he established a commercial service to transmit nightly news summaries to subscribing ships, which could incorporate them into their on-board newspapers. A regular transatlantic radio-telegraph service was finally begun on 17 October 1907 between Clifden , Ireland, and Glace Bay , but even after this

21164-499: Was discovered in the Similaun glacier in 1991. The first colonisers were the Phoenicians , who established emporiums on the coasts of Sicily and Sardinia. Some became small urban centers and developed parallel to Greek colonies . During the 8th and 7th centuries, Greek colonies were established at Pithecusae , eventually extending along the south of the Italian Peninsula and the coast of Sicily, an area later known as Magna Graecia . Ionians , Doric colonists, Syracusans , and

21312-427: Was essentially a laboratory experiment into a useful communication system. Marconi came up with a functional system with many components: In the summer of 1895, Marconi moved his experiments outdoors on his father's estate in Bologna. He tried different arrangements and shapes of antenna but even with improvements he was able to transmit signals only up to one half-mile, a distance Oliver Lodge had predicted in 1894 as

21460-496: Was extended to all of Italy in 1861, and provided basic freedoms for the new state; but electoral laws excluded the non-propertied classes. The new kingdom was governed by a parliamentary constitutional monarchy dominated by liberals. As northern Italy quickly industrialised, southern and northern rural areas remained underdeveloped and overpopulated, forcing millions to migrate and fuelling a large and influential diaspora . The Italian Socialist Party increased in strength, challenging

21608-690: Was interested in science and electricity. In the early 1890s, he began working on the idea of " wireless telegraphy " – i.e., the transmission of telegraph messages without connecting wires as used by the electric telegraph . This was not a new idea; numerous investigators and inventors had been exploring wireless telegraph technologies and even building systems using electric conduction , electromagnetic induction and optical (light) signalling for over 50 years, but none had proved technically and commercially successful. A relatively new development came from Heinrich Hertz , who, in 1888, demonstrated that one could produce and detect electromagnetic radiation , based on

21756-427: Was to bring news of the conflict to passengers at the request of "some of the officials of the American line." On 15 November the SS Saint Paul became the first ocean liner to report her imminent return to Great Britain by wireless when Marconi's Royal Needles Hotel radio station contacted her 66 nautical miles off the English coast. The first Transatlantic Times , a newspaper containing wireless transmission news from

21904-471: Was – and continues to be – considerable scepticism about this claim. The exact wavelength used is not known, but it is fairly reliably determined to have been in the neighbourhood of 350 metres (frequency ≈ 850 kHz). The tests took place at a time of day during which the entire transatlantic path was in daylight. It is now known (although Marconi did not know then) that this was the worst possible choice. At this medium wavelength, long-distance transmission in

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