Mediterranean Journeys: The Italian Chapter of the Escola’s Story

Every journey has a point of departure. For the Escola in Italy, that moment arrived long before an office was opened or a partnership was formalised. It began with a simple yet powerful intuition: Italy was ready for a new way of learning logistics – one rooted in experience, immersion, and connection.

Years before 2019, Italian port communities were already showing a growing interest in experiential training. When the first editions of Formati al Porto were offered to students and professionals in Civitavecchia, something became immediately clear: Italy was hungry for knowledge that could be lived, not only studied. These early programmes were modest in scale yet rich in impact. Participants walked through terminals guided by experts, listened to ships’ crews explain real-life operations, and discovered how the port of Civitavecchia truly functioned, not in theory, but in practice. The enthusiasm that followed revealed a need, a gap, and an opportunity. By 2019, the momentum could no longer be ignored. With the inauguration of the Escola’s Italy office in Civitavecchia, a new phase began, one that transformed isolated trainings into a structured, national initiative.

The new office brought:

• A local team dedicated to the Italian logistics ecosystem
• A growing network of partners among port authorities, training institutions, and maritime clusters
• A stronger Mediterranean identity focused on Italy’s unique strategic position

This was not an expansion for expansion’s sake. It was the beginning of a journey of co-creation. From Civitavecchia, the Escola’s presence spread steadily: to Genoa, with its unmatched maritime heritage and to Palermo and Western Sicily, a region whose openness and strategic vision led to one of the Escola’s most significant milestones. In 2023, the Port System Authority of the Western Sicily Sea formally joined the Escola as a partner – an act that didn’t simply widen our map, but enriched it. Sicily brought new stories, new challenges, and new voices to our Mediterranean training ecosystem. As the Italian network grew, so did the programmes designed for it. Formati al Porto, now transformed into the Port Academy network – Rome Port Academy, Genoa Port Academy, and Sicily Port Academy – became the foundational gateways for students to discover port-community life from the inside. MOST (Motorways Of the Sea Training) Italy continued to bring participants aboard vessels, allowing them to experience maritime and intermodal transport firsthand. With MOST Italy+ reaching also France besides Spain, rail intermodality became an essential thread, reflecting the sector’s evolving priorities.

And 2024 marked a historic milestone: the first edition of MOST Sicily, connecting the ports of Palermo and Genoa. For the first time, every major Italian port in our ecosystem became part of a unified learning journey, one that allowed participants to experience the Mediterranean as a continuous, interconnected landscape. More recently, Italy became the testing ground for new thematic lines, including digitalisation and AI in port environments, with the first course on Artificial Intelligence for Port Authorities. Through all of this, the philosophy never changed:

• We do not operate ports. We reveal them.
• We do not move cargo. We move perspectives.

Behind every training are hundreds of conversations, observations, and moments that often matter more than the lectures themselves. I have watched students step off the bus after a terminal visit with eyes widened by the complexity they had just discovered. I have seen professionals rediscover pride in their work as they explained their roles to a new generation. And I have witnessed teams from different Italian regions connect as if the Mediterranean had always been their common language. These are the transformations that no metric can capture. And yet, the numbers tell a story too: rising participation, growing programme editions, expanding partnerships, and a steady increase in Italian institutions joining the Escola’s journey.

As we approach the Escola’s twentieth anniversary, Italy stands as one of the most vibrant chapters of our broader Mediterranean narrative. What began as a few training sessions has become a living network – fluid, collaborative, and constantly evolving. Italy has taught us that journeys in education do not unfold in straight lines. They grow in circles expanding outward through relationships, curiosity, and shared purpose. Today, the Escola doesn’t just work in Italy. It belongs to Italy, its ports, its communities, its ambitions, and its Mediterranean heart. The journey continues. And as with every true Mediterranean voyage, the horizon promises new encounters, new routes, and new stories waiting to be lived.

Written by:

Alessia Mastromattei
Country Manager – Italy
Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport