Welcome to the Italian Gemological Review, and farewell, Raffaele Zancanella: on April 21st 2020, you would have lit 75 candles on the cake of your existence; instead, the 75 candles have been blown out forever by the exhalation of your last breath, torn off by this nefarious disease, on that unfortunate Tuesday 31 March past. As you clung to a respirator in vain, relentlessly releasing your grip, I – my eyes dimmed with tears – read in your stead proofs of the present article (“A comparative mathematical analysis of the internal reflections in a spherical concave faceted vs. a plane faceted gem”) which – I was hoping – would have given way to a fruitful collaboration, because I thought you still had a lot to say, in the gemological sphere. Collaboration whose scientific value is well exemplified by the caliber of your work, a symbol of your innovative talent always supported by the rigour of rationality.
For those who have not met him in person or have not learned his life’s story, here’s the story: Raf, after the benches and classrooms of the Agordo’s (Belluno, Italy) Technical Mining Engineering Institute as well as a stay in Southern Africa, shared with me (or better, I was the one who shared with him) the rapturous gemological adventure of the 1980s till the early 1990s. Adventure in which he established a Gemological Institute (IGEMM) in his native town of Cavalese – Trento (another big bet!) and in which he gained the trust of the then President of the GIA – Richard T. Liddicoat, one of the fathers of gemology: he, “the mountain lad from the Fiemme Valley“, as he used to call himself!
Venture in which he first brought to Italy (and Europe) that prestigious institution, the Gemological Institute of America. Venture in which he founded the first GIA Alumni Association (Italy Chapter) in the Old World, subsequently hoisting the same banners also in Rome (Rome Chapter) and Bari (Southern Italy Chapter). And I always riding by his side, from the Alps down to Sicily. All this, not before having introduced all the gemological instrumentation of GIA Instruments to the Peninsula (second half of the 70s), breaking the Vicenza Fair’s bank with its group of “cavalesani”. Not before having held the role of gemology teacher (diamond) for most of the 1970s at the Italian Gemological Institute in Milan, an institute that sponsored what was the first ever manual text in Italian entirely dedicated to diamond. His – by Zancanella – “The Practical Diamond Manual”, IGI 1980 edition, in fact precedes by two years “The Diamond Today” by an equally illustrious gemologist, the late Willi Andergassen of Rome.
Not before having won an impossible bet with the whole world in planting the flag in his Cavalese – on his return from the Black Continent – with a gemology laboratory and a shop – all dedicated to his beloved gems – whose fame attracted even the then Premier Aldo Moro, who used to spend his summer vacations in that tourist mountain resort. A daring pioneer, a brilliant innovator, a volcano of ideas, a leader. That’s what Raffaele Zancanella was. There are several of us around Italy who owe him what we later became. If there was an ideal Pantheon of Italian gemmology, Raffaele’s name ought to be carved in it and honors should always be paid to him in the years to come. Do not forget this. As I will not be able to forget you, dear friend. Once more, even last night I dreamed of you, and you told me something about how to innovate an ancient science on the herbs that heal – studies in which you had recently involved me, once more – but that you did not have time to prepare for yourself.
A tribute by Luigi Costantini published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #9, Spring 2020, attached to the article “A comparative mathematical analysis of the internal reflections in a spherical concave faceted vs. a plane faceted gem” by Raffaele Zancanella
