Objective: To identify information about the use of intoxicating sources used by the native populations of the New World from the oldest known Italian writings. Methodology: Search and careful reading of ancient texts dated from the end of the 15th century. Results: The texts of Pietro Martire D'Anghiera are evaluated, where news of the use of hallucinogenic powder to inhale, called cohoba, appears among the ancient Taíno Indians. The language of these texts is Latin (1511) and Italian from 1534 onwards. This new dating implies a European chronological priority little recognized until now and one that is expected to be re-evaluated with this study. Likewise, the first western drawing of a man who inhales intoxicating powders is identified in a work by Salvatore Gilii dated 1781. Finally, the first references to ayahuasca in Italian writings are described from a work from 1850 by Gaetano Osculati.