Location of the venue
The conference will be held at the historical Santa Apollonia Auditorium (ex-Santa Apollonia church – XV century) and at the Aula Magna of the University of Florence.
The locations for the conference are in the center of Florence, near many restaurants, hotels, museums, parks, and other areas of interest.
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Auditorium di Santa Apollonia, Via S. Gallo, 25, 50129 Firenze FI, Italy |
Aula Magna, Università degli studi di Firenze, Piazza di San Marco, 4, 50121 Firenze FI, Italy |
Aula Magna, Università degli studi di Firenze Via Laura, 48, 50121 Firenze FI, Italy |
Accommodations
There are many hotels and other accommodations in Florence. On average, expect rates to be about 110€ per night for a single room and 170€ per night for a double room. Below is a list of quality hotels within a 20-minute walk of the meeting venue (with options for public transport as well). Also, see our accomodation comparison chart listing for more options
Hotels offering discount to conference attendees
Cellai Hotel: Offers double rooms, free breakfast, 3-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Hotel Porta Faenza: Offers single and double rooms, free breakfast, 8-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Hotel Alba Palace Firenze: Offers single, double use single, and double rooms; free breakfast, 15-minute walk from the meeting venue.
TSH Florence: Design hybrid 4-star hotel, co-working and chill-out areas, rooftop bar and pool with stunning view, 10-minute walk from the meeting venue..
Hotels within 10-minute walk to the meeting venue
Hotel Orto De’ Medici: Offers double rooms, free breakfast, 1-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco: Offers double rooms, free breakfast, 2-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Hotel de Lanzi: Offers single, double, and triple rooms; free breakfast; 8-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Grand Hotel Baglioni: Offers single and double rooms, free breakfast, 9-minute walk from the meeting venue.
TSH Florence: Design hybrid 4-star hotel, co-working and chill-out areas, rooftop bar and pool with stunning view, 10-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Additional Accommodations
La Maison du Sage: Offers double rooms, free breakfast, 19-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Yellow Square Firenze, Hostel: Offers several room types, 20-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Popartment: Offers double rooms, free breakfast, 23-minute walk from the meeting venue.
Travel Information
Airports
The Florence airport (FLR) “Amerigo Vespucci”, is just 4 km from the city center. The secondary airport in Tuscany is the Pisa airport (PSA) “Galileo Galilei”, which is located 80 km from Florence and connected to Florence by rail and several bus services. Both airports manage domestic and international flights from several carriers, and offer public transportation to Florence.
Transportation
From the Airport
- Florence Airport
- The tram is the easiest and cheapest way to get to the city center. TRAMWAY LINE T2 connects the airport with Santa Maria Novella (SMN) train station in 15 minutes for just 1.50€. As you leave the airport, head out of the front door and turn left. Follow the signs pointing at the T2 tramway stop. At the stop, you will find several ticket machines where you can buy your ticket(s).
- The city center can also be reached by taxi. The fare is about €22.00-25.00, plus baggage supplements and extra fees for night or holiday travel.
- Pisa Airport
- The new Pisa Mover shuttle connects Pisa Airport to the Pisa Centrale main train station throughout the day, at 5-8 min intervals. The ride takes less than 8 minutes. From the Pisa Centrale station you can take a train to Florence’s SMN train station and be in Florence in about an hour.
- Another option from the Pisa Airport is to take a bus shuttle directly to Florence’s SMN train station, which takes 70 minutes. Companies such as Autostradale provide this service.
From the SMN Train Station to conference venue
- The city’s main railway station, Firenze Santa Maria Novella (SMN), is located in the city center. The simplest way to reach the conference venue from the train station is on foot and will take only 10 minutes.
- Walking Directions from SMN to the Santa Apollonia auditorium via GoogleMaps
Around Florence
- Walking and Public Transport: The historic center is small enough to be visited on foot. If you prefer to take public transport, there are many buses of the local transport company Autolinee Toscane, whose routes are also available on GoogleMaps. A single ticket costs 1.50€ and is valid for any travel within 90 minutes from validation.
- Car: Florence restricts car use in the city center to minimize traffic and to provide easier access for pedestrians and cyclists. The Limited Traffic Zone (ZTL) is from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays and 7:30am to 4pm on Saturdays. When you enter the ZTL area, your car’s license plates will be photographed and you will receive a fine unless you have a permit. If you have a car and your hotel is in the ZTL area, you can reach your hotel with a permit to drop off your luggage and passengers, but then you have to exit the ZTL area and park outside of its perimeter. For a permit, tell your hotel your license plate number and car make ahead of time, so they can communicate it to the local city police. This will allow a temporary permit of 2 hours so that you can enter the ZTL during that precise date and time.
- Taxi: Getting around the city by taxi is not difficult, but you do have to know ahead of time that in Italy taxis cannot be flagged down as they pass you along the street! Taxis are instead “stationed” at special taxi parking stands in most of the major squares, at the stations and at the airports. They can also be booked using their websites or the related mobile-app: Taxi4390, Taxi4242, AppTaxi. If you want to call the taxi service, as well as the hotel or the airport, remember that the international prefix for Italy is +39.
Sites of Interest
Florence (Firenze in Italian) is a small cultural metropolis that offers visitors some of the world’s top museums and art galleries. The conference venue is located in the historic center and you will be able to reach all the major attractions on foot. Here are some of the most famous sites of interest:
- Florence’s Cathedral is just 7 minutes away with its magnificent renaissance Dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. The Baptistery is right in front of it, across the square. The cathedral named “Santa Maria del Fiore” is a vast Gothic structure whose exterior is covered in a decorative mix of pink, white, and green marble. The entrance is free, but you have to buy the single “Grande Museo del Duomo” pass to visit the Baptistery and the museum, and to climb up the Dome and the bell tower.
- Palazzo Vecchio is the main symbol of civil power for the city of Florence and is located in Piazza della Signoria (just 12 minutes away). Palazzo Vecchio’s current appearance is due largely to the Medici’s decision to turn the palace into their residence. When Duke Cosimo I de’Medici and his wife Eleonora of Toledo decided to transfer their court to Palazzo Vecchio (from Palazzo Medici-Riccardi), the building was transformed into a fascinating labyrinth of institutional chambers, apartments, terraces, and courtyards. All the rooms (the so-called Quartieri Monumentali) are magnificently decorated by artists such as Michelangelo, Giorgio Vasari, and Donatello.
- The Uffizi Gallery is famous worldwide for its outstanding collections of ancient sculptures and paintings (from the Middle Ages to the Modern period). The collections of paintings from the 14th-century and Renaissance period include some absolute masterpieces: Botticelli’s Primavera and Birth of Venus; Filippo Lippi’s Madonna and Child with Two Angels; Titian’s Venus of Urbino; and lots of other works, including works by the early Masters Cimabue and Giotto, the Early Renaissance pioneers Fra Angelico and Masaccio, and some absolute classics from Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Reservations are recommended to avoid long lines.
- The Vasari Corridor is a covered (once secret) passage connecting the Uffizi with Pitti Palace. The corridor runs for about 1 km, above the Arno River and the city of Florence. It was realized by Giorgio Vasari for Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, so that the Grand Duke would have a secret and protected passage between his two residences.
- The city is a real open-air museum and it will be pleasant to just take a walk to Ponte Vecchio to admire the Arno river, or go up to Piazzale Michelangelo to admire the enchanted panorama of the city from above.
- To search for hotels, restaurants, places of interest or other tourist information in Florence, you can install Apps such as Firenze–Guida or surf the websites such as Firenze Turismo and Visit Florence.
