Contacts
Rua 5 de Outubro, 40-44
7920-368 Vila Nova da Baronia
(Alvito)
Portugal
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FRESCO ROUTE
The Fresco Route® is a heritage-based territorial development project created in 1998 in the Alentejo region: visits and entry to otherwise inaccessible buildings, fresco painting workshops, and Heritage Camps – International Volunteering in Cultural Heritage are some of the main activities of the first cultural tourism route in Portugal.
It was the repeatedly painted walls of the hermitages, chapels, and churches of the Alentejo region that inspired us, in 1998, to create the Rota do Fresco® (Fresco Route ): we wanted everyone to be able to cross doors that were so often closed and marvel at this monumental scenography of color.
The Rota do Fresco® (Fresco Route) emerged as a heritage-based territorial development project : visits and entry to otherwise inaccessible buildings, fresco painting workshops, and Heritage Camps – International Volunteering in Cultural Heritage are some of the main actions of the first cultural tourism route in Portugal.
And always sharing the discovery of the unknown treasure of Alentejo: the largest collection of fresco mural paintings in the country, with more than 780 registered examples.
Integrating 15 municipalities in the Alentejo region and more than 50 monuments, the Route is based on a network of local partners – heritage owners, public entities, businesses, local development associations – with the aim of promoting the sustainable development of the area covered and the preservation of its cultural legacy.
Each visitor to the Fresco Route actively contributes to the preservation of this heritage, since part of the revenue goes towards the development of programs to enhance its value and obtain patronage/sponsorship for the conservation of this shared cultural heritage.
The Fresco Route is a Spira project – heritage revitalization .
What do we do?
Fresh Route Tours
On Spira LAB tours, we discover, learn about, understand, connect with, and experience artistic dimensions, landscapes, gastronomic practices, ethnological traditions, and cultural forms of inland Portugal.
Spira LAB's tours are based on valuing and closely collaborating with local communities: also through tourism, we want to contribute to the recognition and sustainable development of the territory.
We believe that heritage is experienced with all the senses. Every year, on the anniversary of Portugal's first cultural tourism route, the Fresco Route, we invite everyone to get their hands dirty and immerse themselves in the cultural richness of the Alentejo region by participating in a mural painting workshop, closely following the entire process of creating a fresco painting, with the added bonus of a visit to cultural heritage sites.
Celebrating the Anniversary of the Fresco Route with a Mural Painting Workshop
Campos Heritage Route of the Fresco
The Heritage Camps invite everyone to touch, care for, and learn from cultural heritage, while sharing experiences with volunteers from different countries. Under the guidance of specialized technicians, restoration becomes practice, exchange, and connection with local communities. Since 2022, Spira has been organizing these camps in Portugal, integrating a European network that shares this same mission of cultural preservation and sharing.
