Seventeen officials took part in the course which took place prior to the most recent IPC Athletics Grand Prix in the Italian city.

The course was led by international technical officials David Weicker, Frederico Nantes and Yukio Seki, who had recently qualified as educators with the IPC Academy, the IPC’s education arm.

“The IPC Academy Programme generates opportunities for everyone involved to benefit from a more practical-based approach to learning,” said Flavio Santos, from the IPC Academy.

“This enables participants to put theory into practice, and gives an opportunity for them to test their skills before officiating properly at a competition.”

Participants were instructed about the rules and regulations of IPC Athletics, while they were also taught how to carry out risk assessments.

After the completion of the theory aspect of the course, they will now be able to put their skills to the test at the Carlo Zecchini Olympic Stadium, which will host the European Championships from June 10 to 16.

“I enjoyed the course and I really appreciate that the educators took us to the stadium to analyse real-life situations in the stadium,” said Cristiano Canessa, one of the course participants.

“I liked also that our educators told us something about their past experiences in the IPC and as ITOs.

“I feel the most important thing I learned is to process the differences between able bodied and para-athletics. We now know what to look out for in competitions.”

An international classification course was also held between April 2 and 10, with two people receiving instruction on classifying a physical impairment.

The final participant received guidance on classifying intellectual impairments.