A private American university in Rome where Professor Andrea di Robilant, an expert on pre-15th-century Atlantic voyages, presented evidence of the Zeno brothers' 14th-century expedition to the New World with Henry Sinclair.
About This Site
The American University of Rome is a private institution offering liberal arts education in the Italian capital. Among its faculty is Professor Andrea di Robilant, an author and lecturer with more than 40 years of experience studying pre-15th-century Atlantic voyages. His research focuses on documented European expeditions to the New World that predate Columbus, with particular emphasis on Venetian maritime activity and the Zeno family's navigational records from the late 14th century.
Connection to Oak Island
In Season 10, Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, Alex Lagina, Peter Fornetti, and Corjan Mol visited Professor Andrea di Robilant at the university during a research trip to Italy. The professor described a booklet published in Venice in 1558 that documented the voyages of Venetian sailors Nicolo and Antonio Zeno. According to the account, the brothers sailed to the Faroe Islands in the 1390s, where they entered the service of Lord Henry Sinclair and spent the next decade exploring the North Atlantic. Professor di Robilant presented documents indicating the Zeno brothers sailed to the New World with Sinclair and showed the team a late-17th-century map inscribed "Discovered by Antonio Zeno in 1390."
The Zeno-Sinclair connection is significant to Oak Island research because Henry Sinclair, a Scottish nobleman with Templar heritage, is one of the central figures in theories linking the Knights Templar to pre-Columbian voyages to Nova Scotia. If the Zeno narrative is accurate, it places European explorers with Templar connections in the North Atlantic a full century before Columbus and within reach of Oak Island.
Fieldwork Notes
Visited during Season 10 by Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, Alex Lagina, Peter Fornetti, and Corjan Mol. The team met with Professor Andrea di Robilant to review documentary evidence of the Zeno brothers' 14th-century voyages with Henry Sinclair, including a 1558 Venetian publication and a late-17th-century map.
