Gain practical experience at Toscana Forum

Alessandra D'Agostini has been in Munich since the start of the Italian summer holidays and has been completing an eight-week curricular internship at Toscana-Forum since the end of June. The 17-year-old comes from Trento in northern Italy and is a student at Ivo de Carneri Institute, Department of Tourism. 

The institute's thermal bottle next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the ©Toscana Forum office

Cooperation with the educational institution in Trentino-South Tyrol

Toscana-Forum has been cooperating with the educational institution in the Trentino-South Tyrol region for some time, where around 400 young people not only obtain the general university entrance qualification, but can also obtain a professional qualification. After other students had already accompanied the company to various tourism trade fairs and gained practical experience there, Alessandra met Elisa Santoni and Davide Azzaroni while working at the Toscana Forum stand at the Free leisure trade fair in Munich in February 2019. 

Alessandra and Davide at the Toscana Forum stand at f.re.e 2019 in Munich © Toscana Forum   

“I immediately thought about doing my compulsory internship at Toscana-Forum in the summer,” she says and is very happy that it worked. 

School director Giovanni Scalfi and Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Deavi from the Ivo de Carneri Institute © Toscana Forum   

Alessandra immediately found open ears from school director Giovanni Scalfi, who accompanies his students' every step with great professionalism. 

"Together with Dipl.-Ing. We then discussed and organized all the details with Thomas Deavi, the person responsible for internships at the institute, to ensure that the internship ran smoothly“, says Elisa Santoni. 

Insights into everyday working life

At her workplace, the young Italian learns how to design the Instagram account for the Toscana Forum: she selects images, coordinates texts with the author of the Toscana Journal and, in collaboration with Elisa and Davide, she also defines and implements a marketing strategy for it become. 

Alessandra, Elisa and Davide in the Toscana Forum office © Toscana Forum   

The Toscana Forum office in Unterföhring near Munich © Toscana Forum   

Thanks to increasing language practice and a written guide, she is getting better and better on the telephone. Otherwise, she helps fill out personalized vouchers for customers, supports Elisa by preparing data for the database and, from the perspective of a young surfer, takes a critical look at the new Toscana Forum website, which is due to go online shortly. On Fridays she also takes part in an online Google tutorial on online marketing strategies. When it comes to writing texts and dealing with the usual correspondence, Alessandra also finds it very helpful to work with Christiane Franz, who has been working as a copywriter/editor at Toscana Forum for many years. 

Alessandra, Elisa and Davide in the Toscana Forum office © Toscana Forum   

The Toscana Forum office in Unterföhring near Munich © Toscana Forum   

"We deliberately included Alessandra in the selection of images and motifs for our new advertising material" says Elisa Santoni "and learned to value their feedback. 

For the young people, an internship like this makes a big difference to everyday school life and she is firmly convinced that she can give her intern a variety of new and exciting impressions. This was also noticed by Alessandra, who couldn't imagine how demanding work in the office was. 

"I thought I was just putting into practice what I learned at school, but I'm gaining a lot of completely new experiences here and learning a lot". 

Davide and Alessandra in the Toscana Forum office © Toscana Forum   

Internship: Impulses and Inspirations

But the boss also sees advantages for her own company: 

"Contact with young people from the tourism industry who are currently completing their university entrance qualification gives us interesting impulses and inspiration for new projects".

It is important to find out what makes the young generation tick and which aspects of tourism are most important to them. 

By the way: After graduating from university, Alessandra wants to come back to Munich to study tourism management and marketing at the University of Applied Sciences. 

Alessandra, Elisa and Davide in the Toscana Forum office © Toscana Forum   

A completely different education system in Italy

As in Germany, kindergarten (scuola d infanzia) is not compulsory in Italy. While primary school in Germany lasts four years, Italian children attend the scuola primaria for five years. They then switch to lower secondary level (scuola secondaria di primo grado). They then have the choice between high school (licei), technical high school (istituti tecnici) or vocational school (istituti professionali), which are completed after five years with the Abitur (esame di stato). Incidentally, school attendance is only free until the end of secondary school and school books and teaching materials generally have to be financed by families.