After the preparatory period in swimming pool, the most important stage of the effective Course begins with the execution of various operative phases, all performed in natural environment.

After establishing the positive results obtained during many years of continuous training activity - since 1959 - the School has looked - and still looks - upon the lacustrine underwater environment, with its muddy soundings, rich of seaweed, its currents and scarce visibility, as an irreplaceable element for the T.D.O.'s (Technical Diver Operator's) psychological, physical and technical training.

The vocational and the professional training and the introduction to work of more than 2000 units, operating at present in most national and international geographical areas, demonstrate the shrewd selection made by the School, also based o the long professional experience its founders rightly boast.

Furthermore, if the lake is sufficiently large, it offers all the typical aspects of the sea: wind, currents, wave-motion a.s.o.

Specific peculiarities of the Bracciano lake, chosen on purpose by the School in order to pursue the teaching goals already described.

But differently from the sea-ambient, the lake doesn't instinctually attract people for diving; the underwater activity in lake is performed with no passion, just following a rational impulse, targeted on the execution of professional tasks of operative kind.

There are, moreover, many psychological barriers towards fresh water, while the attractiveness of sea water, often displaying color reflections, transparency and moderate temperature, is well known; on the contrary, visibility in lake is almost constantly limited, blurred, if not totally absent; flora and fauna are almost non-existent starting from -15 meters bathymetry.

The dominating color in lake-ambient goes from a dusky green to dark greenish, becoming gradually brown, dark brown and ending in total black, in an often very limited bathymetry - space.

This water-color, together with the disappearance of any life-form, the low temperature a.s.o., make the diver feel isolated, inclined to visual confusion, surrounded by unreal silence, absolutely alone, confronted with any other operative environment; but on the other side this stimulates, involves and prepares him to perform the basic professionalism necessary to penetrate the underwater ambient with total concentration and full trust in the rigorous application of protocols and procedures of technical/accidental preventive kind, without risking to be distracted by elements which have nothing to do with the technical/operative aspect.

Often a wrong or uncoordinated movement on the sounding is sufficient to find oneself operating in total absence of visibility.

And it's mostly facing this kind of problems, in such an irreplaceable operative environment, that the student demonstrates to himself that he can put in practice all the lessons received, later gradually developing to a level of psychic maturity which the School believes is fundamental in terms of operative safety.

In the lake of Bracciano, operative center of the School since 1959 - year of its establishment - the visibility starts to be very scarce already at -6/-7 meters bathymetry, and from -12 meters on, there begin to be noticeable sudden changes of temperature causing a greater technical/operative concentration of the student, mostly concerning breathing ventilation and mnemonic engagement; the controlled overcoming of these problems develops further psychological faculties, which are inseparable from self-control, as for instance: VENTILATION COORDINATION, DIVING AND OPERATIVE HYGIENE , MNEMONIC FACULTY, OPERATIVE DISCIPLINE, in terms of technical SELF-DISCIPLINE .

A further sudden change of temperature is normally felt at -18/-20 meters. And then again at -30 and -50.

It's nothing particularly engaging or dangerous from the physical point of view, after an adequate series of preparatory psycho-physical training and being protected at least by an ordinary 5 or 6,5 mm neoprene-wetsuit and a 3 mm under-wetsuit.

Anyway, this aspect also makes it less attractive to dive in lakes performing the various operative tests which the students - gradually prepared - must pass through and which are very important for their reliability, particularly because they call for engagement and active participation from the student's side, in terms of psychological, physical and technical skills' development, identified by the School with PSYCHO - SUITABILITY.

Together with the execution of various operations of technical kind, the maturity and/or development of those of psychological kind, the students are given an instrumental training, referred to the most recurring works in entrepreneurial field; the training favors the acquisition of concrete application skills, directly proportional to the progressive bathymetric penetration of the water-ambient, performing what has been learned about Technique and Applied Theory, Submersion Graphing, Underwater Physiopathology, Hygiene and Safety norms, referred to accident-prevention and operative protocols.

The scheduled operative days are 9/10 and, besides the fundamental development of the student's psychological skills, their nature is of operative intervention, just like requested by the majority of the firms operating on international level in this particular sector, and constantly updated by the School, which uses therefore a very detailed updating system.

In ALL the practical training lessons application methodologies are used, which can be checked in a downright underwater - workyard, also using the sailors'/naval jargon normally spoken in this kind of operative ambient.