About me

My name is Raffaele Toniolo, I was born on December 28, 1992 in Vicenza, a small and historic city in the heart of Veneto, in Italy. I graduated in Translation and Inerpreting from Dante Alighieri Institute for Translators and Interpreters in Padua.

So, as you can imagine, knowing foreign languages, in my case English and Spanish, is a tool that I have for years considered as an essential mediation element to be able to communicate, know and discover new places, cultures and people accustomed to a daily life sometimes very different from ours.
After graduating, I wanted to try many different work and life experiences, always giving importance to the use of foreign languages; I have always felt driven by the desire and the spirit to learn and experience new things. My intent was to be able to figure out what was the context with which I could find myself most in tune, a context that could trasmit me feelings that no other activity or situation could have given me.

What kind of journey? The adventure trip. My great passion and enthusiasm to create new travel itineraries in fascinating and untouched places that can offer us boundless landscapes, was the key to become a Travel Planner, after a training course with Professione Travel Designer by Francesca Pozzan.
I have loved traveling since I was a child and, only not so long ago, I realized that I was raised by people who in one way or another have marked me on discovering and experiencing the new.
Over the years I have discovered a good part of the Old World, Europe. But my breakthrough happened in 2018-2019. A very long journey that led me to discover a lot of some countries in South America: Peru, West Bolivia, Chile and Southern Argentina.

… and it was in Chile where I “recognized” myself 100%. Chile is my “destination”, my specialization. It is the country where I have recognized the development of travel itineraries, the guidance and accompainment of travelers …. as my ideal job!

Right question. In orden to give an answer I need to step back to the true reasons that guided my curiosity:

✦ The colors and contrasts of the landscapes of the big Andine plateau

✦ Open spaces all over the country

✦ Stars

… yes, precisely the stars, the first aspect that originally had conquered my curiosity for that country marked by the most intensive astronomical research in the world. In fact, for an amateur astronomer like me in the continuous search for spatial freedom, Chile is truly the ideal country.
This is why I decided to dedicate myself to the creation of AtacamAdventures, to help discover and enhance this magnificent country through my adventures and experiences on one of the most fascinating and spectacular deserts in the world; a website that could paint my soul as a traveler and attract others similar to mine.

At the end of a travel experience, whatever it is, each traveler returns home carrying a case of knowledge more or less rich depending on how many aspects he has managed to experience during his journey. That traveler, whether consciously or unconsciously, goes in search of the aspects with which he is most in tune, able to give him unique emotions that can recharge his mind and soul.
Sometimes we can understand those aspects even through simple questions asked upon our return home: what were the best moments of your trip? At what moment did you feel 100%? Would you go back there? And why? Or even… have you recognized yourself to the point of not excluding the possibility of living there? 

Thinking on my experience in Chile, the first aspect that comes to my mind is that whatever the time of day and the context in which I may find myself, the landscape inevitably respects three characteristics. I am referring to the contrasts, colors and purity of the air. These are the aspects I feel most in tune with. But these typical characters, found almost everywhere in the country, are all connected to a key element.

I am referring to the wide spaces around us, the boundless landscapes, the colorful and pristine altiplano that extends as far as the eye can see.
Whatever the destination of my trip, this is the element I always look for. A kind of natural “battery charger” that manages to bring the batteries of my spirit to 100% and to transmit that surplus of energy capable of maintaining the top-charge for a long time.