An 8-ton marble monument to Guglielmo Marconi dedicated by American signal soldiers 45 years ago is to be hauled off base and handed over to local Italians for a planned museum. The monument to the radio pioneer, dreamed up by troops at the U.S. Army Communication Site Coltano and dedicated in 1973 at a ceremony attended by the U.S. ambassador to Italy, is to be moved in the next few weeks.

The removal from Camp Darby to a villa in the town of Coltano, about five miles away, comes at the behest of Marconi’s daughter Elettra, now in her late 80s, and Pisa government officials, according to U.S. Army Garrison Italy officials. It also reflects the shrinking U.S. military presence in what’s now called the Darby Military Community, where only 143 airmen and 51 soldiers, none of them signal soldiers, remain.