A recognition that “counts double”: The Marconi Foundation grants its patronage to MIRS.

It arrives on the most symbolic date possible—World Radio Day on February 13—the prestigious recognition that establishes Mirs, the Interactive Museum of Radio and Society, as one of the most authoritative museum institutions in Italy dedicated to the history of media and communication. The Guglielmo Marconi Foundation has officially granted its patronage to the museum in Pasiano di Pordenone.

This news carries strong institutional and cultural significance, made even more meaningful by the international observance celebrating radio as a tool of knowledge, dialogue, and democracy. On February 13, 1946, the United Nations broadcast its first radio transmission from its headquarters in New York, a date later chosen by UNESCO to commemorate the universal role of this medium.

The patronage of the Guglielmo Marconi Foundation—an internationally renowned institution devoted to preserving and promoting the scientific legacy of the great Italian inventor—marks a fundamental milestone in Mirs’ growth, confirming the quality of its cultural, scientific, and educational project. This achievement is part of a path strongly supported by the municipal administration of Pasiano di Pordenone and by Antique Radio Magazine, a prestigious Italian publication and a national reference point for radio collecting for over thirty years. Acting also as Mirs’ scientific advisors, the magazine has, over the years, built the relationship with the Marconi Foundation and helped create the conditions for this institutional recognition.

“The patronage of the Marconi Foundation,” comments Mayor Marta Amadio, “is a recognition that makes us particularly proud and rewards long, shared, and forward-looking work. Both this and the previous municipal administration, as well as the Region, firmly believed in Mirs as a strategic project—not only for the community of Pasiano, but for the entire regional territory and beyond. Today the museum is a vibrant and well-attended institution, capable of engaging diverse audiences and collaborating with leading cultural institutions, while also serving as an important driver of tourism and economic development for the whole area.”

A year of success

Just over a year after opening, Mirs has already welcomed more than 5,000 visitors from across Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, and other Italian regions. The audience has been diverse, including families, enthusiasts, scholars, and especially numerous schools, which have recognized the museum as a privileged space to explore the history of radio, communication, and contemporary society through an interactive and engaging approach.

This success is also rooted in the strong symbolic value that accompanied the inauguration in December 2024, when Elettra Marconi, daughter of Guglielmo Marconi, sent a video message of greeting and encouragement to Mirs. A deeply meaningful gesture that now finds a natural continuation in the Foundation’s official patronage, sealing a bond that is set to grow even stronger with an exhibition dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi, which will be hosted this year at Mirs. The exhibition will further enrich the museum’s cultural offering and strengthen its scientific and educational profile.

The Foundation’s patronage—headquartered in Sasso Marconi, in the hills where Guglielmo lived and conducted his first wireless telegraphy experiments—is therefore not merely a formal recognition. Mirs has now fully joined the network of institutions that preserve and narrate a fundamental chapter of twentieth-century and contemporary history. All the more significant in view of 2027, when Pordenone will serve as Italy’s Capital of Culture for a year.