Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy, to an Italian father, Giuseppe Marconi, and an Irish mother, Annie Jameson. From an early age, he displayed a keen interest in science and electricity, voraciously reading books on physics and experimenting with electrical devices, setting the stage for his future groundbreaking inventions.

Largely self-taught, Marconi began experimenting with radio waves in the early 1890s, inspired by the work of Heinrich Hertz. He aimed to develop a system for sending telegraphic messages without wires, improving upon existing techniques. He conducted experiments on his family estate, Villa Griffone, in Pontecchio Marconi, successfully transmitting signals over increasing distances. This marked the beginning of his journey towards inventing a practical wireless communication system.