[1] The son of Emiliano Llona Echeverri and María Rosa Bartolina Gastañeta Rivero,[2] his brother Victor was a writer based in New York City, where he published several novels.
[2] He studied at the college of Neuilly-sur-Seine, and then at the Scientific Institute of Lima, directed by José Granda Esquivel [es].
He entered the National School of Engineers, but left his studies due to his father's illness, to attend to his vanadium mine, and other business matters.
[1] He collaborated in the creation of the Seismological Observatory of Lima [es] in 1906, alongside other members of the Geographical Society, which began its official activities in 1908.
His daughter María Teresa worked as a writer in El Comercio and La Prensa, serving as director of Variedades in 1932.