Rossana Cavazzana has been involved in accounting, personnel management and secretarial work at the Due Torri Hotel for the last nine years. She describes the place as unique for elegance and style. Hers is a key role in a hotel which employs a lot of people in different departments, all coordinated with one another.

  

Do you remember your first day at the Due Torri di Verona?

Of course I do. It was in September 2013. I’d worked for 20 years with a French company and in a business hotel in Milan. It was like landing in a different world. I liked my new context a lot, being right in the heart of Verona, surrounded by history. I was struck, above all, by the 14th-century palazzo that houses us, packed with works of art and details that still fill me with emotion. If I had to sum up what makes this hotel different from others, I would use one word: style.

 

What is it like to oversee the administration of a small world like that of a hotel, between international guests and all the in-house resources? 

We are in a palazzo that lives at its own pace and has its own rules. We are bound to the utmost discretion with guests and we abide by very high standards as far as uniforms, hospitality and presentation are concerned. This also applies to people like me who stay behind the scenes and only rarely interface with guests. We all represent the face of the Due Torri, a hotel frequented by international celebrities, like the singers who perform at the Arena. Once I was working in the office and I could hear Andrea Bocelli not far away, doing his vocal training with his son. Here the exceptional becomes the norm. It’s a privilege of ours.

 

How would you describe your typical day?

I’m from Milan and I come to Verona three days a week. When I’m here I sleep in one of the staff bedrooms, so when I wake up in the morning, all I need is a cup of coffee and I’m ready to go. I’m in my office at around 7.30am and I have an early lunch at 11, which is the norm in hotels. I stay on duty until 7 or 7.30pm. I work in close contact with my colleagues. The steward deals with suppliers, the reception area sends me the invoices, and I see to the accounting and taxes. I also oversee cash management, credit recovery reminders and minor secretarial details, and the manager and I organise leave and permits. In addition to the permanent staff, we also employ “extras” who come in to cover events and peak periods. Having to recruit a lot of people allows us to select. Picking the right ones is of vital importance, especially in a top-level hotel.

 

What advice would you give to all those who do your job in the administrative sector but have never worked in a hotel? 

Administrative work has different nuances depending on where it is carried out. At the hotel everything we do is involved, directly or indirectly, with hospitality, and we have to take that into account on a day-to-day basis. On top of that, unlike a business specialised in one sector, a hotel concentrates a number of different facilities and activities: the restaurant, taking care of the rooms, hospitality, cleaning, the bar, the events we host and organise, and so on. Every department is self-contained but has to coordinate with the others. If just one cog in the machine jams, it’s a problem for everyone. In a hotel environment, the organisational side of things is vitally important.

 

What’s your favourite memory since you arrived at Due Torri? 

The first time I went up to the terrace with its panoramic view. After the winter season, we decided to keep it open from spring to September with a restaurant service. When the doors of the lift opened, it took my breath away: 300 square metres, all elegantly and pleasantly laid out, and personnel with a smile, ready to lavish attentions on guests. Then there was the view, which stretches out in every direction, the panorama of the city seen from above, with the monuments, the River Adige and the hills in the distance. There’s no other place like this in Verona.