Marconi's birthplace and tomb. Villa Griffone at Pontecchio near Bologna, Italy, the birthplace of Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), Italian physicist. The tomb where Marconi's body lies can be seen below the villa. It was at this villa that Marconi transmitted the first wireless signal in spring 1895. He was aged 21 and had developed his first radio equipment, with a range of 1.5 kilometres. In 1899, he made a transmission across the English Channel. Two years later, Marconi made his first trans-Atlantic transmission. In 1909, he won the Nobel Prize for Physics. He founded the Marconi Company (now GEC-Marconi).