Originally from Italy, Elio is the founder of AYA Healing Retreats. He is a qualified Social Worker and has over thirteen years experience working both on national and international humanitarian projects. He has also had the privilege of supporting refugee populations to overcome the trauma of displacement throughout Asia, Europe, and Australia. In 2009, Elio encountered the medicine of master plants. Convinced of their power to cure the incurable, he began an apprenticeship under the guidance of Maestro Vegetalista Manaco Manain. Since then he has continued to deepen his knowledge, experience, and understanding of the workings of sacred plant medicines, studying the Shipibo traditions under the revered Mahua family, and has undertaken numerous Master Plant Dietas with well-respected curanderos in the Peruvian Amazon. In addition to sharing the indigenous wisdom of the ancient traditions of the tribal people of the Amazon, Elio also invests part of AYA Healing Retreats profits into humanitarian projects in order to create a more compassionate world.