From Padua to Udine: a valuable teamwork experience borgato_marco_thumbnail.png 2020 was a year focused on the need for resilience and skilfully-managed changes. This was put into practice by 13 colleagues of AcegasApsAmga who offered their own skills during the summer to colleagues in one of the Group’s companies, ASE, which found itself dealing with an unexpected increase in workload due to the Covid health crisis. This willing team included Marco Borgato, who transferred to Udine for two weeks to take part. Marco, what do you do in AcegasApsAmga? For about 4 years now, I’ve been working in the Water Department in Padua, where I deal with the electrical side of water systems like pumps, transformers, cathodic protection. Often, people have no idea how much electricity is involved in the water system. A multifaceted skill set, then: with the Covid crisis, were you asked to collaborate with ASE? With the end of lockdown, ASE experienced an unexpected increase in workload in a very short space of time, such as the maintenance of electrical systems in schools which needed to be ready quickly for the high school leaving exams. So I was asked to join a team of colleagues in Udine for a few weeks. What did you do during your time in ASE? ASE manages electrical systems in many public buildings in Udine. So, I was able to put my electro-technical skills into practice in various types of systems, such as checking the circuit breakers in a school. Would you recommend this experience to your colleagues if the need were to arise again? Absolutely, yes! It allowed me to meet colleagues from other locations that I would not have met otherwise. There was an instant positive work atmosphere and we became a close team really quickly, all of us trusting each other. no

The labyrinth hunter selli_ettore_thumbnail.png A lifetime of interests embodied in a book. Ettore Selli, 32 year old engineer at Herambiente in Bologna, is the author of “Labirinti vegetali. La guida completa alle architetture verdi dei cinque continenti” (”Garden Labyrinths. A complete guide to green architecture in five continents”), which is enjoying great success on radio and TV programmes, and in the press. The book is the result of his passion for Greek myths, adventure and the environment, the latter also leading to his job where he deals with tenders for transport and disposal of special waste in Italy and Europe. “For an environmental engineer like me, working in Herambiente is like coming home. Dealing with waste means working with the environment, it is a way to contribute personally every day to the earth’s sustainability.” His interest in Greek mythology dates back to secondary school: “I attended a classical lyceum, so I grew up with the legends of Daedalus and Icarus.” His adventurous spirit is also rooted in his childhood: “I was a scout for 16 years, I love exploring and the outside life, mountains and trekking. These are passions passed on to me from my family; my father is in fact a geology teacher.” This resulted in his desire to explore garden labyrinths around the world, gardens of all shapes and sizes that unite nature with mystery. In his illustrated book, 420 examples of these labyrinths from all parts of the world are provided, in over 60 countries: from Italy to Argentina, from New Zealand to South Africa. He has visited many of these himself: “I love travelling and, on each of my trips, wherever possible, I always include a visit to a labyrinth”. For more remote examples, he relies on geographical maps and satellite images. He has collected images and information to put together a guide which offers photos, descriptions, historic and particularly botanical background, anecdotes and legends, and geographic coordinates. In the office, procedures have changed during the pandemic, but not the motivation. “I never get tired of my job. Covid has not impeded our work, we have continued to work a lot and hard. Also because the new online working methods have optimised our working times”. What Ettore misses is the normal working relationship with colleagues. “In the office we’re now divided into two teams to avoid the possibility of any infection spreading to everyone. This means that half of the office never meets the other half. Despite this, we have never lost our friendly atmosphere and spirit of collaboration”. no