Alfonso Marconi Alfonso Marconi Alfonso Marconi (18651936) was an Italian businessman and collector of stringed instruments, most famous for assisting his younger brother Guglielmo Marconi in his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission Alfonso Marconi was born into the Italian nobility in 1865, the first son of Giuseppe Marconi (an Italian aristocratic landowner from Porretta Terme) and of his Irish/Scots wife, Annie Jameson (daughter of Andrew Jameson of Daphne Castle in County Wexford, Ireland, and granddaughter of John Jameson, founder of whiskey distillers "Jameson & Sons"). Alfonso was educated at Bedford School in England between 1876 and 1880, during his peripatetic childhood.
Premiata Forneria Marconi live performances included songs by groups such as King Crimson and Jethro Tull. Other early influences included Chicago, Ekseption, and The Flock. They had a long name, as Italian progressive bands tended to have back then (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Raccomandata con Ricevuta di Ritorno, etc.), and so were usually referred to as 'La Premiata', and later 'PFM'. After rejecting Isotta Fraschini (an Italian car maker) the group finally settled on Pagani's suggestion, 'Forneria Marconi' (meaning 'Marconi Bakery'), borrowed from the sign of a shop in the small town of Chiari, near Brescia. However, record producer and friend Alessandro Colombini