Venue

The conference will take place in the School of Engineering, which is located in the south-west of the city, just 100mt from the ancient “Porta Saragozza”, in Viale del Risorgimento 2 (zip code 40136). The area is very lively, with many restaurants, cafés, shops, is served by public transportation and easily reachable also on foot from the city centre in about 15 minutes, walking along the world-famous Bologna arcades. Porta Saragozza is also the starting point of the Portico di San Luca, the 3796-meter, 666 arcade walk up to the Sanctuary on top of the St.Luke hill (296mt high).

Address

Facoltà di Ingegneria Viale dei Risorgimento 2 I-40136 Bologna

A secondary entrance is also available in via Vallescura, possibly more convenient if coming on foot from the city centre.

From Piazza Malpighi: v. Nosadella / v. Malpertuso / v. Vallescura
From Piazza Maggiore: v. D’Azeglio / v. Carbonesi / v. Collegio di Spagna / v. Saragozza / v. Malpertuso / v. Vallescura

Bologna

Bologna, a historical capital of culture, was founded by the Etruscans in the VI century B.C. Bologna sits in the southern part of the historically and gastronomically famous Po River plain, a natural crossroads in northern Italy. Bologna's location was important not only for the trading of goods but also for the exchanging of ideas and the disseminating of culture. The Università di Bologna, founded in 1088 is the oldest university in the western world.

Bologna is famous for its porticoes. Dating back to the 12th century the porticoes were used to enlarge houses to support the growing University community. Today 350,000 people call Bologna home, of which 100,000 are students. Bologna, Italy's culinary capital, is also famous for its food. Furthermore, Bologna is surrounded by the famous food/wine regions of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany.

Arriving by Plane

Bologna airport (http://www.bologna-airport.it/) is located about 6km north-east of the city, and is directly connected with over 60 destinations in Europe (including the major European hubs like London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris CDG, Madrid Barajas, and others) and in northern Africa by all the major airlines. Low-cost airlines like Easyjet, RyanAir, WizzAir, and others also fly from/to many European destinations.

From the airport, you can either take a taxi or the express bus BLQ (http://aerobus.bo.it/en), which links the airport to the city centre and the railway station every 15 minutes. The bus has three stops in the city centre before reaching the central station. Tickets can be purchased on the bus and are valid also in the Bologna central area, allowing any bus change within one hour.

Public transportation

The School of Engineering is served at "Porta Saragozza" by several bus lines (http://www.tper.it/orari/linee) Alternatively, one can stop in Piazza Malpighi, a central square about 10 minute walk from the School of Engineering.

Bologna buses are integrated in the Google Transit system, so the bus stop locations and bus schedules can be seen in Google Maps, too.

Bus tickets should be bought before getting on the bus, at any newsagent’s or tobacconist’s.

Arriving by train

Bologna central station is located in Piazza delle Medaglie d'Oro, just on board of the historic centre, at the beginning of via Indipendenza. It is also very close to the bus terminal (“Autostazione”).

Bologna is the major rail Italian hub, so virtually any destination can be reached quickly and effectively. The high-speed network links Bologna to Milan in 1 hour, to Florence in 37 minutes, to Venice in 1h25 and to Rome in 2h15. Many regional and inter-city links are also available. For any information please refer to Trenitalia (the national operator, both for high-speed and regional trains) Italo (the alternative high-speed operator)

Arriving by car

Given is geographical location, Bologna is also the natural hub of most of the north-south and east-west highways, so it can be easily reached by car by any destination.