International Centre for Veterinary Training and Information
The CIFIV – International Centre for Veterinary Training and Information “Francesco Gramenzi” – is located in the Colleatterrato Alto district of Teramo, on a hillside offering views of the Teramo coastline and the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga mountain ranges. The Centre is housed in a renovated historic farmhouse, carefully restored in line with the original design. Set in a peaceful rural landscape and surrounded by a park conceived according to the principles of sustainable gardening, it embodies the Institute’s mission of safeguarding human, animal and environmental health. Every space has been designed to foster knowledge exchange and transfer.
In March 2013, the Institute inaugurated a dedicated conference hall at CIFIV, named in memory of veterinarian Vincenza Prencipe, who passed away the previous year. The CIFIV premises also host the Complex Unit for International Relations and Training.
Residential training, webinars, hands-on laboratory sessions, e-learning and web-based knowledge management — all training initiatives originate here, whether delivered in Teramo, elsewhere in Italy or Europe, across the Mediterranean Basin and the Balkans, in Africa, or online.
The Institute’s training offer reflects its scientific and technical expertise, particularly in the areas of food safety, animal health, exotic diseases, zoonoses, epidemiology, risk analysis and surveillance, bioinformatics and genomics, management development, animal welfare, animal identification and traceability, wildlife and environmental protection, laboratory and service organisation, health education, and more.
Since 2004, the Institute’s training system has been certified by TÜV Italia as compliant with ISO 9001 standards, with the updated ISO 9001:2015 certification obtained in October 2016.
The Institute is an authorised provider for Italy’s Continuing Medical Education (ECM) system, offering both residential and e-learning courses accredited by the national platform AGENAS (ape.agenas.it).
CIFIV addresses the Institute’s internal training needs, supports the Italian National Health Service with high-level educational initiatives, and promotes capacity building in countries affiliated with WOAH and FAO. It also contributes to the Institute’s development projects in numerous international contexts—primarily in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean Basin — by fostering networks among relevant stakeholders.
From 2007 to 2023, CIFIV served as a training provider for the European Commission within the Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) programme. During this period, it consistently secured all animal welfare training contracts for Europe and all e-learning contracts from 2011 onwards, developing and delivering distance learning courses for official control staff in both EU and non-EU countries.
CIFIV manages the design, delivery and evaluation of training and outreach events, using advanced methodologies and tools to enhance the scientific contributions of both internal and external researchers — who remain the true protagonists of the Institute’s educational mission.
Training beneficiaries include professionals working in veterinary fields across public and private sectors. Internal training programmes are developed based on identified staff training needs.
At national level, training activities are primarily delivered on request, in response to specific needs from the Ministry of Health, regional and local veterinary services, laboratories and other research institutions. These typically focus on the Institute’s recognised areas of excellence. CIFIV also supports the mandate of National Reference Centres and National Reference Laboratories, where training is always a core component.
The Institute is a WOAH Collaborating Centre for Veterinary Training and Capacity Building and, as such, a member of the WOAH Platform for the Training of Veterinary Services. Since 2020, collaboration with other WOAH Collaborating Centres for training has intensified across strategic areas and led to the establishment of the first WOAH e-learning consortium, created to support veterinary services on a global scale.