Primrose second DISS Kurzras Italy November 2016,6-11 November 2016

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The second dissemination activity took place at the Piccolo Hotel Gurschler in Kurzras, Alto Adige, Italy, over several days from 6-11 November 2016.

Since Kurzras is a famous skiing centre at the foot of a high glacier dividing Italy from Austria and, since November is the start of the high season for the hotel, it was not possible to give presentations to groups of hotel staff. Instead, it was agreed to give individual presentations and training to one staff member at a time, as and when they could be spared from their duties.

This has happened on previous occasions and has proved very successful as each person receives individual attention and is able to ask questions and learn quickly.

Many of the staff are related to the family that owns the hotel and they have all shown extreme interest in the materials that we have created in previous EU projects. Consequently they are eager to learn what the new project is creating. 

Half the staff speak Italian and half speak German as the area was formally part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Few speak English so I have to do my presentations and training in their two languages. Our materials are helping the German speakers improve their Italian and the Italian speakers improve their German, as well as helping them all to improve their other languages.

The glacier is famous for Ötzi, the 5000-year-old “iceman” whose body was discovered in 1991 close to the start of the main ski-runs at the top of the glacier. His DNA was analysed by the Professor of Genetics at Oxford.  He has since analyzed my and my families’ DNA and to everyone’s astonishment the DNA of my wife and children is identical to that of Ötzi so they are directly related to him and probably descended from him. That is another reason why those that run the hotel feel that I am one of the family.

David Sephton

Manager of Primrose Publishing Ltd., UK

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