Читать книгу Marconi My Beloved - Maria C. Marconi - Страница 6

It is difficult and moving for me to speak about my beloved Guglielmo. Many books have been written about his immense work and about his life from his adolescence to his death; but they have not always faithfully reflected the truth.

I dedicated my whole life to Guglielmo Marconi, to this man who was unique for his genius, his great sensitivity and his charm; I was always close to him with my love, helping to stimulate his natural joie de vivre and giving him that serenity that was so necessary to him.

We were united by our great desire to help one another and to overcome every difficulty together. It was like this until the day of his death and nobody was able, although some tried, to destroy our union which instead became more profound with every day that passed.

I wish to emphasise to those who read this book that Guglielmo Marconi was a great scientist; his discoveries and inventions have made it possible for the whole world to communicate, overcoming every distance and saving countless human lives. My husband’s genius did not show itself only in the extreme technical rigour with which he tenaciously carried out his numerous experiments but was also expressed in his exceptional generosity of spirit. He was a far-sighted man and he had the good of humanity at heart.

For this reason, overcoming my natural reserve, for love of the truth I want to report phrases, eye-witness accounts and his own authentic words so that everyone will know how much love and sensitivity sprang from the heart of the scientist.

The feeling that united us was very profound. Our marriage was blessed by the birth of Elettra, who before she was born he called “the child of our love”, saying to me: “If it is a girl, we will call her Elettra, like the yacht where for all these years I have been carrying out my experiments whilst sailing the different seas.

Guglielmo loved our daughter very much. Looking down at her in her cradle, he whispered to me, smiling tenderly: “She is our angel!”

How many moments of really great importance but also of light-heartedness and harmony we spent together: his great discoveries, the journeys in far-off countries, meeting many people who today are part of history, being received with the magnificent welcome usually reserved for royalty and heads of state, welcomed with open arms by huge crowds applauding our arrival. All these events, with full details, I have described in these pages.

The happy years went by but at a certain moment we both began to realise that the Lord was going to part us after He had willed that we should love each other so deeply. In the last days of Guglielmo’s life, before his sudden death from a heart-attack, he looked deep into my eyes after embracing me tenderly and said: “You will have Elettra and she will remind you of me”.

Dearest Guglielmo, you were right. You did indeed leave me a living reminder of yourself: our beloved Elettra.

I should like, simply and spontaneously, to write down the truth that comes from my heart and which our daughter Elettra can read over again and keep as a record of her great father and as a testimony of the faithfulness of spirit and mind which her mother always cherished and kept alive in her heart for her husband Guglielmo Marconi even after his death.

Rome, June 1993.