Summary of the 2024 Training Academy in Portugal

The 12th edition of the Training Academy on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe took place in Torres Vedras, in Arruda dos Vinhos and in Vila Franca de Xira (Portugal) from 11 to 13 June.

This year’s edition focused on enhancing cooperation among the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, addressing key themes such as governance, sustainability, visibility, and innovation. Representatives of the Cultural Routes actively exchanged ideas to improve collaboration and strengthen dialogue among the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, reinforcing a shared cultural identity and a common vision for future development.

The Training Academy concluded with actionable insights and strategic recommendations to further strengthen the role and visibility of the the Cultural Routes themselves, the cooperation among routes and a shared ownership of the programme. The reliance of the Cultural Routes programme on multi-stakeholder cooperation, the involvement of local communities and the examples of resilience it brings are all important factors for revitalising cultural and heritage policies.

The Academy was organised by the European Institute of the Cultural Routes and the European Federation of Napoleonic Cities, carrier network of the Destination Napoleon and the European Federation Iter Vitis in cooperation with the Rota Histórica das Linhas de Torres, the Association of Portuguese Wine Municipalities and the municipalities of Torres Vedras, Arruda dos Vinhos and Vila Franca de Xira.

This year, the 2025 Training Academy gathered over 80 representatives from 17 countries and 36 Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.

During the „Strengthening Partnerships within Cultural Routes” workshop session on the first day of the Academy, two representatives of the Roman Emperors and Danube Wine Route from Pécs presented the „RomansWineDanube” project and what are the main outputs and the focus of the project.

An important part of the second day was when Mr. Rui Gomes divided us participants in different groups to work on the cooperation between the routes focusing on two questions: what can we do better together and how can we do it? This was a good opportunity to share experiences and thoughts with each other.

On the third day as the represenrtatives of the Roman Emperors and Danube Wine Route we had the opportunity to announce the next Training Academy in Pécs and to say a few words about the future event and invite everyone for the next year Academy.

During the three days of intensive working sessions, the participants also had the opportunity to discover the historical, cultural and gastronomic heritage of the region of the Historical Route of Linhas de Torres.

The conclusions of the 2025 Training Academy will be presented at the Annual Advisory Forum on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, which will be held in Cappadocia, Türkiye, October 2025.