The life of the Author is novel-like and almost incredible.

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His story begins a distant morning, when he was just eighteen years old. He was walking along Corso Buenos Aires, the most commercial street in Milan and Italy. He approached a bookshop, looked at the window, intrigued, as he had always done since he was a child. This time his eyes were drawn to a large black book: it was a volume on the history of the Incas. He got mesmerized by that word: Incas. He went in and bought the book. Once he finished flipping through the pages, his world was turned upside down by an uncontrollable and inexplicable desire: he longed to search and discover El Dorado. Shortly thereafter, he decided to leave for Peru. His passion for this extraordinary South American civilization radically changed his life. Several years went by, studded with scientific studies of the highest level, learned languages and dialects of the world, daring trips, explorations in the most inaccessible places on the planet, discoveries that could redesign part of human history so far narrated.

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El Dorado, we said. A centuries-old legendary place, overflowing with gold and priceless treasures, that haunted European conquistadores since the early 1500s, even before the discovery of the Inca empire. Throughout the XVI century, generations of adventurers and explorers followed one another in the New World, pursuing the “golden dream”, searching the Andes mountains inch by inch, exploring the Amazon forests, and sailing along all the rivers of South America. Spanish swashbucklers Diego de Ordaz, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Pedro de Ursúa and Lope de Aguirre, Antonio and Fernando de Berrío, Domingo de Vera and Ibargoyen, together with English adventurers Walter Raleigh and Laurence Keymis, were among the main protagonists. The dream — or delirium — of gold also continued during the following century, again without success. Then, in time, that dream seemed to fade away. 

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So, legend or truth?

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The probable origin of the El Dorado legend takes us back to one of the rituals of the Author, who has been spreading a gold-based cream on his face and neck every night for years. In front of the mirror, he watches himself transform into a golden man. Gold has powerful regenerating, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties and brings an impressive number of benefits to the skin, preventing aging, reducing wrinkles and spots, making it bright and elastic, protecting it from sunlight, preventing collagen loss, etc. A true elixir of well-being that brings to mind that “Fountain of Youth” desperately sought by the conquistadores; a legendary source, a symbol of eternal youth, which should have possessed a water capable of healing from diseases and of rejuvenating those who dived into it. The location of the mythical source has been subject of discussions since ancient times, but after the discovery of the Americas it was believed that it could be located in the New World. Actually, the “Fountain of Youth” is nothing more than gold, a metal the American lands were and are very rich in. For the Author, the evening ceremony of gold is indeed treatment and source of rejuvenation, thanks to the beneficial and unique properties of the mineral, but it is also an ideal reminder of what used to happen in the Laguna de Guatavita, a lake sacred to the pre-Columbian people of the Muiscas (Chibchas) over 500 years ago. We are on the Bogotá highlands, in the Cundinamarca territory, present-day Colombia. Here it is told of a great ceremony that took place for the appointment of the new cacique, i.e. the indigenous leader of the Muiscas. The chosen one — after having fasted completely in the dark in a cave for a long time — was led on the shores of Lake Guatavita in the evening. Here the priests used to strip him, to spread a sticky resin on his body, and then to sprinkle him with gold dust. Afterwards, they handed him the new cacique scepter and had him climb on a raft (balsa) together with his ministers. While the balsa was heading to the center of the lake, all the others stood on the shore, lighting fires and praying. When the sun rose, the new cacique threw gold and emeralds into Lake Guatavita, as an offering to the gods, and immediately afterwards he immersed himself in its waters, washing the gold dust from his body. At the same time, the devotees on the shores threw precious gold jewels and other emerald-studded baubles into the lake.

 

So far the legend. Behind the thousand fantasies and stories that rose over the centuries, however, there is a surprising reality, which the Author is finally ready to reveal, with documents, data, precise and indisputable indications: the city of Manoa, the real city of El Dorado, actually existed and was the capital of the Kingdom of Guyana, founded by the Incas between the southern part of Venezuela (State of Bolívar) and the northwestern part of Brazil (State of Roraima). This lost city is located in the depths of the Venezuelan jungle, on the border with Brazil: a wild and inhospitable land that, according to the Author, represents one of the territories in the world with the most gold and diamonds, a real mining El Dorado that the Incas had discovered and started to exploit. In the XVI and XVII centuries, European expeditions did not feature enough manpower and means to enter such an almost inaccessible region. Nowadays, the situation is basically identical to four centuries ago from the environmental point of view, but — unlike in the past — we now have technological and scientific means able to overcome the adversities of the territory: small planes able to land on tiny runways in the middle of the jungle, helicopters, satellites, GPS, georadar, LIDAR laser scanners, etc. With them, bringing El Dorado to light is materially possible.

 

How comes the Author, who left for Peru several years ago after having read a book about the Incas, currently knew and could reveal the exact position of the one and only El Dorado? Let’s say right away that it is the result of a real, theoretical, and practical knowledge, acquired over decades of studies and research — not of the fervent imagination of a dreamer or, worse, of an inventor of fantastic stories. First of all, there have been important scientific studies, that let him establish himself as an internationally renowned gemmologist, among the world’s leading experts of secondary deposits (placers) of gold, diamonds, and precious stones. As a member of the Diamond Exchange in Antwerp, Belgium, he belongs in effect to the world elite of precious stones. Joining this institution is, in fact, a complex operation: it is necessary to present three letters of recommendation by members of the Stock Exchange together with two signatures, always by associates, that guarantee for the applicant; it is also necessary to pass an admission examination before a strict and demanding commission, in addition to having to show a certificate of (civil and criminal) good conduct without pending charges. A quick reading of his scientific training serves to account for his formidable preparation in the mineralogical field. Just to mention the main qualifications he obtained:

 

• Graduate Gemmologist (British term) Diploma and Basic Sorting of Rough Diamonds Certificate, obtained at the prestigious Institute of Gemmology HRD (Hoge Raad voor Diamant, or "High Diamond Council") in Antwerp, Belgium, the leading European authority in the classification of diamonds and precious stones;

 

• Graduate Gemologist (North American term) Diploma and Rough Diamond Grader Diploma, obtained at the prestigious Institute of Gemmology IGI (International Gemological Institute) in Antwerp, Belgium;

 

• Graduate Diamonds Diploma of the prestigious Gemmology Institute GIA (Gemological Institute of America) in Carlsbad, California (GIA is the best known research and learning center of mineralogy in the United States of America), obtained at the Mediterranean Gemmological Institute (Istituto Gemmologico Mediterraneo) of Cavalese, in the province of Trento, Italy, very famous in the 1980s and 1990s, which had the representation of GIA for Italy from 1984 to 1991.

 

It is important to note that the gemmological certifications issued by the Hoge Raad voor Diamant (HRD), the International Gemological Institute (IGI), and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) are the only ones recognized and accepted worldwide. Having studied in these three prestigious Institutes, the Author acquired a knowledge of mineralogy that is utterly unique. The theoretical training was accompanied by a significant amount of experience in the field.

 

• He acquired skills in the fields of precious stones of Chantaburi. This Thai province, together with nearby Trat, is the world capital of the most valuable varieties of corundum: in fact, it provides more than 50% of the international production of rubies and sapphires. The area is located in a strategic position: it is adjacent to the border with Cambodia, known for its wonderful gems (zircons, rubies, and sapphires), and has close commercial ties with neighbouring Burma, that is famous for providing the best quality of rubies and sapphires in the world.

 

• The Author then lived with the guaqueros (emerald seekers) of Muzo, in the department of Boyacá, Colombia, a town known as the world emerald capital. For decades, this region, that hides in its bowels fabulous emeralds — among the most precious gems in the world — was a place of pilgrimage for thousands of people, coming from all parts of Colombia, looking for the stroke of luck that would make them rich. Thousands of desperate people have spent their lives washing the dirt along the banks of Minero river and digging narrow and dark tunnels in the depths of the nearby hills surrounding this watercourse, living a miserable existence in makeshift shacks without electricity and drinking water. All of them were chasing the crazy dream of the green stone, the priceless gem, that could change their lives.

 

• He also had experience with Peruvian mineros (“miners”) extracting gold along the banks and in the bed of the rivers of the Madre de Dios department, a region of Peru rich in secondary alluvial gold deposits. In the collective imagination, Madre de Dios — as other regions of the Peruvian Amazon — has always represented a mysterious territory, inaccessible and full of immeasurable treasures. During the XX century it was the scene of numerous gold races and nowadays about 45,000 — mostly illegal — seekers extract the precious metal in this part of the Peruvian jungle.

 

• He became an expert in gold and diamond placers by accompanying and observing the work of numerous Brazilian garimpeiros (“gold and diamond seekers”) in various sites in Brazil and Venezuela, learning all the tricks of the trade from them. He has travelled mainly in the Brazilian State of Roraima and in Venezuelan Guyana (States of Bolívar, Amazonas, and Delta Amacuro) which can be rightly considered a real mining El Dorado because of their riches. According to the Author, the former State features gold reserves that can be estimated at least 10,000 tons (inferred reserves), while the latter can be hypothesized to have an even greater auriferous potential, amounting to over 15,000 tons (inferred reserves). At a nominal price of 55 euros per gram (average price in 2022), the theoretical value of 15,000 tons of gold is equal to 750 billion euros, which represents the Nominal Gross Domestic Product  (GDP) of important countries such as Netherlands, Turkey, and Switzerland (International Monetary Fund — 2022). Again according to the Author, the wealth of gold in Venezuelan Guyana added to the State of Roraima’s constitutes more than 20% of the world gold reserves and undoubtedly represents the gold richest region of the whole planet. His book, The Incas, The Children of the Sun, Manoa: the story of a fantastic discovery, provides a detailed description of numerous gold and diamond deposits in this fabulous and very rich territory. Due to the large amount of featured data — some of which are unknown to official geology — this publication represents a unique document of its kind.

 

The Incas were the people of gold par excellence. They clothed their existence, houses, temples, their own bodies, in gold and precious stones. Coricancha — the most important temple of the Tahuantinsuyo Empire, considered as the religious center of the capital Cusco — featured walls covered in gold plates and an adjacent courtyard full of solid gold statues. Its rooms were decorated with emeralds, turquoise, and other precious stones. The emperor, his family, and the nobles of royal blood always ate and drank using golden plates, cutlery, and cups, as reported by various chroniclers of the XVI century, including Cristóbal de Molina and Francisco López de Gómara. The Incas were able to find, extract, and process the precious metal in a superlative way, and they built their El Dorado — the city of Manoa — in a territory rich in gold and diamonds, like perhaps nowhere else in the world.

 

In the New World, the “Incas = Gold” equality is to be considered a real axiom. It was therefore necessary that archaeological research relating to this civilization in those territories were conducted by an authoritative professional in the mineralogical sector, who, in addition to having the economic resources necessary to finance expensive research, was literally fascinated by El Dorado, as were the conquistadores five centuries ago.

 

The extraordinary passion for archaeology, the profession of gemmologist and mineralogist practiced with great competence, the vein of adventurer and explorer explain his biography, which – even for those who know him – leaves incredulous because of its being out of the ordinary.

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The Author has lived his life travelling and living all over the world: from the impenetrable forests of New Guinea, Thailand, and Burma to the equally inaccessible ones of the South American Amazon (Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil); from the gigantic Himalayan mountain range to the huge glaciers of Tierra del Fuego (Chile and Argentina); from the beautiful islands of Polynesia to the lost coral atolls of Micronesia. Travels and stays that have left him as a legacy, among other things, fluent knowledge of many languages, such as Italian, English, French, Spanish, Chicano (i.e. Mexican Spanish), Portuguese, Portuguese-Brazilian, as well as a basic command of numerous other languages including some dialects of the Quechua language. Stories and anecdotes of his existence are countless and, perhaps, only an extended biography could restore the exceptional character of his life. As with a deck of cards, let’s draw five scenes at random. They show us five different situations, in different places on the planet.

 

• The first scene shows an old and malfunctioning single-engine Cessna landing in a narrow and short dirt track, obtained as best as possible among the dense vegetation of the Amazon jungle. The Author exits the aircraft, distraught by the challenge with Death, he has just faced. Each and every landing in the heart of the rainforest is, in fact, almost an attempt at suicide. He is in the company of Edgar Gomes, nicknamed “MacGyver”, as the skilled American secret agent protagonist of one of the most original television series of the 1980s. In addition to being one of the most skilled pilots in the entire Brazilian Amazon, he is also famous for an atrocious joke that he plays on all his passengers: once at altitude, he turns the engine off and starts screaming, shouting that the plane is broken; when the single-engine starts to fall — among the terrified looks of his passengers — he turns the engine back on, picks altitude, and continues the journey with a satisfied chuckle. We are in Roraima, State of Northern Brazil, in the mysterious and unexplored Amazon rainforest. The region was the scene of one of the craziest and bloodiest gold rushes in history, between the late 1980s and the early 1990s, which the Author himself could witness. Tens of thousands of clandestine gold diggers (garimpeiros) came from every corner of Brazil in search of luck, challenging the authorities, the indigenous tribes, and the living and working conditions — that were truly hellish, to say the least — as shown by the extraordinary and dramatic images taken by one of the most important photographers in history, Sebastião Salgado. Let’s give an idea of the proportions of this gigantic and delusional gold rush, which took place in the Yanomami territory. More than 40,000 garimpeiros were prey to the gold fever and dazzled by the possible riches that could be hidden in that territory. They invaded the forests of Roraima, went up the rivers and opened hundreds of clandestine mines, called garimpos. Over one hundred fifty illegal airstrips were built. The approximately five hundred planes and sixteen helicopters, that supplied the gold diggers, transformed the capital, Boa Vista, into the first airport in Brazil by number of takeoffs and landings, about three hundred a day. Near the clandestine tracks, many camps were built, where miners, adventurers, pilots, prostitutes, and unscrupulous traders lived and worked — some kind of new “Far West” in the heart of the tropical forests of the State of Roraima. Such camps often developed and become real “small cities” (currutelas) in the middle of the Amazon jungle. Roraima economy exploded in an unprecedented economic boom and began to revolve around this new activity. Gold became a second currency parallel to cruzado, the Brazilian currency of the time. The increase in trade in Boa Vista exceeded 500%, bank deposits swelled, air taxi companies multiplied rapidly, and more than two hundred offices were opened — almost all of them were illegal — where gold and diamonds were bought and dollars exchanged. Dozens of large and small hotels were built, and shops — especially clothing — increased their sales tremendously. The cost of living skyrocketed, making Boa Vista one of the most expensive cities in Brazil and South America. Despite the decisive interventions of the Federal Police and of the Brazilian Army, that crazy gold rush is never over, and so Edgar and — after his death — other pilots risk their lives every day carrying people, equipment, and supplies necessary to operate the hundreds of clandestine garimpos in the heart of the Roraima jungle. Thus, aviators become the garimpeiros’ best confidants and, in fact, they collect their stories, information, and secrets. Thanks to these pilots — starting from MacGyver — the Author collects valuable information over time on the numerous gold deposits in the immense rainforest — most of which unknown to official geology — and on mysterious civilizations’ ancient ruins buried in the impenetrable jungle.

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• The second scene is a love one, set on the banks of an Amazon river. Like every morning at sunrise, a fierce caiman waits for the Author near the shore, its observing eyes just out of the water. Here comes the man. He’s bringing pieces of meat from other jungle animals, killed to satisfy the insatiable voracity of his friend, with whom he has opened a sort of communication channel and emotional connection. After having eaten, the two of them play carefree for a good half-hour. The Author rides it like a horse. Only when the man leaves the shore, does the caiman move away, plunging into the bottom of the river. But before doing so, the fierce animal always waits for a wave of greeting from his friend: in this way he understands that the meeting is really over. The following morning, the caiman returns to the appointment on time. The love story will last about a month, until the departure of the Author.

 

• The third scene features the colors of the mysterious and unexplored Indonesian jungle. During a trip to the tropical rainforest of the western area of New Guinea — nowadays administered by Indonesia — the Author is about to come into contact with the Korowai, the last cannibals on the planet. It is a tribe whose first encounter with the outside world was documented only in 1974: until then, these inhabitants of the rainforests of New Guinea were completely unaware of the existence of other people. The Author is excited and, of course, very nervous. The Korowai approach by offering some human flesh to eat: it’s a token of gratitude for the gifts they have just received. It’s wrapped in banana leaves. It presumably comes from a member of the tribe itself, who died because he was possessed and eaten from within by a khakhua, a witch-man from the underworld. This is how these natives explain the mysterious death of one of them, actually caused by a probable tropical disease, of which those forests abound. According to the logic of the Korowai, in order to get revenge, you have to cut up and eat the khakhua as he did with the entrails of the person who died. On the advice of the guide and in order to please them, the Author accepts and eats the offered food, becoming himself a cannibal and thus being welcomed amicably by the tribe.

 

• The fourth scene takes us to the Asian continent, in Myanmar (Burma), at the time of one of the numerous insurrections of the Burmese people against the brutal dictatorship of the armed forces that have led the country since 1962, when they took power thanks to a bloody coup d’état organized by the infamous General Ne Win. It is a warm August evening and the Author is in the city of Yangon (Rangoon) for professional activities related to the evaluation of precious rubies and sapphires. He has the opportunity to speak briefly with a slender but charming woman, who then advances to the head of a long procession between two wings of crowds that acclaim her, glorify her, almost venerate her like a Madonna. It looks like a mystical glow surrounds her. That charismatic woman is Aung San Suu Kyi and is the head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), that fights against the fierce military dictatorship — a party born with the popular “8888” revolt, so called because it originated on August 8th, 1988. Years later, the Author still remembers perfectly the brief meeting that provoked a great emotion in him. On August 26th, 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of the national hero Aung San, held a rally at the Shwedagon Pagoda in front of half a million people, establishing herself definitively as a national icon, symbol of the struggle against the bloody dictatorship of the Burmese military.

 

• The fifth scene takes place in the Ver o Rio restaurant on the banks of Rio Branco river in Boa Vista, Brazil. In front of excellent fish dishes, the Author is chatting — helped by an interpreter — with an old South American Indio, known through a garimpeiro friend. The man’s name is Vicente Rodrigues Yurawana and he is the oldest South American Indio of Yekuana ethnicity, as well as one of the last custodians of the myths and millennial traditions of this people. The two men have been hanging out for a long time, their relationship has become almost a father-and-son one. The Author calls the old South American Indio “dad”, considering him to all intents and purposes a second father (by a coincidence of fate, the Author’s father’s name was Vincenzo; Vicente is the Portuguese and Spanish variant of the name). And Vicente, in turn, opens up with him and tells stories that are nothing short of astonishing, revealing to him — meeting after meeting — all the secrets of the Sierra Parima and of the border region between Brazil and Venezuela. Stories and secrets that go back in time to the Incas era. After having eaten his moqueca — a fish stew with vegetables typical of those areas — Vicente decides to tell him yet another story, perhaps the most precious, that the Yekuana have handed down from generation to generation. Towards the end of the XV century, a people arrived in the territory where the Yekuana lived. They came from afar, from the “land where the sun sets” (Western South America). They appeared one day on a majestic plateau (tepuy) characterised by a vast subterranean labyrinth of tunnels and natural caves. At the foot and inside that gigantic mountain they erected their capital, the legendary Manoa. They built houses, stone roads, and canals, diverted rivers, created artificial agricultural terraces along the sides of hills and mountains. They were the only ones extracting and working the metals. Their houses were covered with gold, their vessels were forged with the precious metal, also their elegant cotton clothes were embellished by gold jewelry and precious stones. The Yekuana called them Winao (Incas) and considered them civilizing heroes. The Author is listening in silence, his eyes shining with emotion: with impressive precision, Vicente is revealing to him the exact position of the El Dorado tepuy, the place he has been looking for since he was 18 years old and bought that great black book about the Incas in a Milanese bookstore. Such valuable information confirms what the Author had learned many years before from a wise and elderly priest of the Quero people, a Peruvian community considered the last custodian of the ancient secrets and traditions of the Inca civilization.

 

These five scenes — chosen without any particular order — show some traits of the Author’s personality: scientific passion and old-fashioned explorer courage match with the ability to gain trust and enter into strong harmony and empathy with men belonging to distant places because of their language and culture (and, as seen above, even with ferocious animals such as the caiman of the Amazon forest).

 

Somehow, this characteristic of his brings us back to the Incas. Actually, the Author lived part of his existence in close contact with the Indios of South America, often being able to understand and speak their own dialect. There are numerous relationships that the Author is still maintaining with many indigenous ethnic groups of this continent and in particular with the Yanomami, the Yekuana of Venezuela and Brazil, the Macuxi of Brazil, the Pemones of Venezuela, the Quechuas of Peru and Bolivia. Such wealth of experiences helped make him the last amawt’a (amauta) in the world today. In the Inca Empire, the education of the noble and royal classes was distinct from the commoners’ (hatunrunas), which basically took place in the family, handed down from generation to generation. Tahuantinsuyo upper classes were educated by amautas, that is the Quechuan for “wise men”. Claiming that the Author is the last amauta may seem risky, but it is a certain fact that he is currently the only person in the world not only to know and to be able to reveal the exact location of the city of Manoa — the real and only El Dorado — but also to be familiar with the Pakasqa Code, the secret writing of the Incas. Moreover, thanks to such knowledge, he is able to demonstrate the size and the routes of the exploratory journeys of the Incas in the XV century in all the Americas, up to remote Alaska, and even to distant Oceania. He is also the discoverer of the thirty-eighth Quechua dialect (37 according to Torero, 1970 : 249), the Guatemala Quechua (so-called Xinca), legacy of the language spoken by the mitimaes, Incas soldiers who arrived in Mesoamerica in the XV century, in anticipation of a future clash with the Aztec empire, a possibility that disappeared only after the unexpected and dramatic arrival of the Spanish conquistadores. As a scholar of Quechua dialects, he owns one of the largest existing collections of Quechua dictionaries and grammar books. Among his knowledges — so far never revealed to the world — there is also the exact location of Yuraq Llaqta (Ciudad Blanca), the city built by a group of Inca mitimaes that arrived in the heart of the Honduran forest of Mosquitia — also called “Little Amazon” because of its impenetrable and wild territory — at the end of the 1400s.

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Let’s close this short biography of the Author by leaving to his own voice the story of an important bond with a priest of the Quero people, the only Andean community that still maintains intact — and jealously preserves — the ancient Inca culture. Elder Missayuq Kuna or Paqo (Pako) Kuna (“Andean priest”) became his Yaya (“father and spiritual guide”) for a certain period of time, leading him by the hand along the Qhapaq Ñan, the path of knowledge. It was he who revealed him numerous secrets of the Inca civilization, including the meaning of many symbols of the secret writing of this extraordinary people and the exact location of the city of Manoa, the true and only El Dorado.

 

“[…] it was a bitterly cold night and we had been forced to seek refuge by the fire lit in the fireplace of his humble abode, at over 4,000 meters altitude, when he made me a shocking revelation. We were wrapped in a warm blanket of wool, sipping a mug of hot chicha, sitting elbow to elbow, faces turned to the warmth of the flame, when my Yaya revealed to me, with a grave and deep voice, interspersed with periods of total silence: ‘Friend, I know that, as all wiraquchakuna (wiraqochakuna) [white, non-indigenous people], you are looking for El Dorado, but the golden city of the Incas is not here: it lies several thousand miles from Cusco, as my grandparents told me. It is immersed in the dense and impenetrable rainforest, in a territory that you wiraquchakuna call Venezuela, at the foot of an immense flat mountain [tepuy] that recalls our Peruvian Andes because of its grandeur. However, be very careful, because someone watches over its ruins, someone very dangerous’. After having uttered these words, he fell completely silent. I looked at him in amazement, then reached my bed and fell asleep immediately overcome by sleep given the late hour. I did not even remotely imagine this was just the beginning of an incredible adventure that would lead me to discover the incredible Kingdom of Guyana of the Incas, with its legendary capital Manoa, buried in the hell of the Venezuelan jungle, at the foot of a gigantic and spectacular tepuy, not far from the Brazilian border”.