Marco Roberto Bertoli was born in Sarnico on July 30th 1974, but the family lives and works in Palazzolo sull’Oglio, where Roberto attended the “G. Galilei” high school. He then enrolled at the faculty of philosophy at the Milan University but after a few years he quit. Inspired by his vocation and from Father Luigi Rebuffini who he knew, and who has been in Brazil for forty years, he leaves for the great South American state. He’s just 21 years old.
After visiting several places in this vast area, where difficulties and discomforts are most commonly encountered, he realizes how important and necessary is to intervene with a supporting work/opera, especially with regard to the children who experience since young ages abandonment and violence. At first it welcomes the “meninos de rua”, street children, in a detention facility dismantled and offered by local administrations, but soon the place is no longer suitable to accommodate the ever increasing number of boys and also the concession of the building is not guaranteed.
Thus, thanks to its persistence and tenacity and thanks to the aid coming largely from Italy, he obtains the use and possession of a large area. The Missionary rolls up his sleeves and begins to realize his dream: build a small village in just fifteen months using prefabricated structures but demonstrating the skills of a great designer and builder.