The meeting will be held at the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri one of the sixteen research facilities that make up the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF). The Observatory has a long history behind it, beginning in 1869, the year of its foundation, during the period when Florence was the capital city. More than one hundred people currently work here, including both structured and unstructured research and technical-administrative staff.
The Observatory is located on the top of the Arcetri hill, where other prestigious institutions such as the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Florence, the National Institute of Optics of the CNR, and the Galileo Galilei Institute of the INFN are located. The Arcetri hill was recently designated a historical site of the European Physical Society due to its considerable historical-scientific interest.
The Arcetri Observatory is part of many active scientific and institutional collaborations with other INAF sites, as well as with other national and international research institutes and universities, in particular with the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Florence.
Getting to the meeting
From the city center the easiest way is by taxi (around 15 minutes in normal traffic conditions) or the bus number 38 (direction Pian dei Giullari) from Piazza della Calza that stops close to the building. The bus is small and runs every hour, so other options could be: bus 12, from Piazza di Porta Romana, get off at Galilei 05 or Galilei 03 and then walk uphill for 10 min; bus 38 (direction Fermi) from Piazza della Calza that stops at the observatory main gate, then you have to walk uphill for 10 min; otherwise from Porta Romana you can walk uphill for about half an hour. You can reach Porta Romana/Piazza della Calza using bus number 11 from the S. Maria Novella railway station.
Travel
By car
From the A1 (highway) exit at: Firenze Impruneta. Follow directions for downtown Firenze for about 3 km up to a crossroads (it is the fourth crosslight). Turn right along V.le del Poggio Imperiale and then left along Via di San Leonardo and turn right along Via Vincenzo Viviani. Go straight along Via del Pian dei Giullari.
By train
Get off at Firenze S.Maria Novella railway station. Then the easiest way is by taxi (around 15 minutes in normal traffic conditions) or follow the directions from the city center given above.
By plane
The airport Amerigo Vespucci in Firenze is connected with many European and Italian main cities, and with the two Italian intercontinental airports (Roma and Milano). From the airport you may take a taxi to downtown (20 min.) or to Villa Galileo (30 min.). Otherwise you can get the tram line T2 to the S. Maria Novella railway station (20 min), and follow the directions given above.
The airport Galileo Galilei in Pisa is also connected with European and Italian main cities and with the intercontinental airports in Roma and Milano. From Pisa airport you can take the people mover to the Pisa Centrale railway station and then take a train that will get you to the Firenze S. Maria Novella railway station in about one hour.
From Bologna Marconi airport you can get the people mover to the Bologna Centrale railway station from where you will get to Firenze S. Maria Novella in about one hour.
From the Roma L. da Vinci airport you can reach by train the "Roma Centrale" railway station from where you can reach Firenze S. Maria Novella in less than two hours by a fast train.
Accommodation
There is a wide choice of hotels in Florence, but please book your hotel as soon as possible, as often tourists are more than available beds!
Here we suggest some hotels that are frequently used by the Observatory guests:
