Areté: A Place to Celebrate Twenty Years of Port Cooperation

Cities also speak through their spaces. Sometimes they do so by carrying the name of a person who left a mark. Other times, they speak through a word – one that captures an idea.

Barcelona has just chosen one of those words.

On 13 January 2026, the Barcelona City Council’s Nomenclature Commission approved, at the proposal of the Port Authority of Barcelona, the name “Jardins de l’Areté” for the space located in front of the headquarters of the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport, on the Moll de Barcelona in Port Vell.

At first glance, this might seem like a small decision in the life of a city. But for those of us at the Escola, it carries a special meaning. The name recognises the deep connection between the educational project of the institution and the concept of areté – a word from Greek philosophy that expresses the idea of virtue understood as the ability of individuals to contribute positively to society.

For the ancient Greeks, the virtuous person was not the richest or the most powerful, but the one who contributed most effectively to improving society. It is no coincidence that this recognition comes in the very year that the Escola celebrates its 20th anniversary.

A Word that Connects the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean is a sea of port cities that have shared trade, culture, and knowledge for centuries. It was within this common space that the idea of the Escola first emerged: to create a meeting point between the academic world and the professional community of transport and logistics.

For this reason, it is especially meaningful that the name Areté is beginning to appear in several Mediterranean ports. Not simply as a symbolic coincidence, but as something more straightforward – and more valuable: a shared commitment by the Escola’s partner ports to join in celebrating its twentieth anniversary, through a gesture that reflects what the Escola has always been – a collective project built on shared values.

A few months ago, the Port Authority of Civitavecchia approved the designation “Piazzetta dell’Areté” for the garden space located in front of the classroom where the GLIPS course is held – a programme developed by the Escola together with the Fondazione Caboto and the Port Authority of Civitavecchia, just behind its headquarters.

In Palermo, meanwhile, the Port Authority is finalising the installation of a pedestal that will support another sculpture dedicated to Areté, symbolically oriented toward Genoa.

Three ports. Three spaces. One word that expresses a shared intention.

A Journey to Celebrate Twenty Years

The inauguration of these spaces will take place this autumn as part of a programme that reflects the very spirit of how the Escola works.

On 14 October, the Jardins de l’Areté will be inaugurated in Barcelona alongside a sculpture created by artist José Luis Pascual that will preside over the space. Two days later, on 16 October, a corresponding ceremony will take place in Civitavecchia, followed by the inauguration in Palermo on 17 October. The programme will culminate on 19 October with the anniversary celebration of the Escola in Genoa.

These events will form part of the Escola’s teacher training programme, which will bring together educators – many of them closely connected to port and logistics communities from different countries.

As is tradition in our programmes, the course will take place on board vessels operated by the Escola’s partner shipping companies, with the collaboration of the ports that form part of its shareholder network. Learning while sailing, visiting ports, speaking with professionals, and sharing experiences remains – twenty years later – one of the most effective ways to teach logistics and transport, and in this special course, also new educational models.

A Place for Memory – and for the Future

The Jardins de l’Areté, located in the heart of Port Vell, will not be a monumental space, nor do they aim to be. They will simply be a place to pause.

A place to remember that behind every collective project there are values, people, and a shared story.

In some way, they will also serve as a tribute to the Barcelona port community, which from the very beginning has supported the development of the Escola and has understood that shared knowledge is a strategic investment in the future of the sector.

Cities change, ports evolve, and logistics chains transform.

But something endures.

The conviction that progress – whether in ports, their cities, or the societies they serve – always arises from the combination of knowledge, collective effort, and trust between people.

That, precisely, is what the Greeks called areté.