In the 1970s, an Italian priest sold 12,000 piranhas to Europe; 55 years later his proceeds have funded 350m bridges and an 800m airstrip

An Italian Jesuit priest once turned one of the Amazon's most feared fish into an unlikely source of income for an isolated community. Giovanni Gallo organised the preservation and export of about 12,000 piranhas from Brazil's Marajó Island, with the proceeds helping fund bridges, a community dock, a cemetery and an airstrip, according to Brazilian academic research and recent reports by CNN Brasil. His wider work eventually led to the creation of the Museu do Marajó, a museum dedicated to the region's history and culture.The story dates to the 1970s, when Gallo arrived in Marajó, a large island in the Brazilian state of Pará. Brazil's National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, or IPHAN, records that he came to Brazil in 1970 and reached Marajó in 1972. Gallo spent his first years in Brazil in other locations before settling in Marajó.Gallo eventually lived in Vila de Jenipapo, in the municipality of Santa Cruz do Arari. The community was isolated and lacked basic infrastructure. Houses were adapted to seasonal flooding, with residents relying on wooden walkways and elevated structures to move around during periods of high water. A historical account published by Ciência...