The meeting will be held at the Villa il Gioiello, located in Via del Pian dei Giullari 42, 50125, Florence, few minutes walking from the pedestrian entrance of Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri. Villa il Gioiello is famous for being one of the residences of Galileo Galilei, which he lived in from 1631 until his death in 1642.
A map showing Villa il Gioiello, the Observatory and the main hotels location can be found here.
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 38B 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 for 10 min; bus 38A 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.
Travel
- By car
- From the "Autostrada del sole" (higway) exit at: Firenze Impruneta. Follow directions for downtown Firenze for about 3 Kilometers 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 take the bus number 38B from Piazza della Calza that stops close to the building.
- 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 il Gioiello (30 min.). Otherways you can get a bus shuttle to the S. Maria Novella railway station. And follow the directions given above. The airport Galileo Galilei in Pisa is also is connected with European and italian main cities and with the intercontinetal airports in Roma and Milano. From Pisa airport a direct train connection will bring you to the Firenze S. Maria Novella railway station in about one hour. From Bologna-Marconi airport you can get a bus shuttle to the Bologna Centrale railway station from where you'll 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 an "Eurostar" fast train. From Milano-Malpensa airport you can take a shuttle train which brings you to the "Porta Garibaldi" railway station in Milano. Unfortunately no connections to Firenze are available at this station; you must reach the "Milano Centrale" station by underground (a few minutes) from where you can take an "Eurostar" fast train to Firenze (about 3 hours). Alternately from the airport you can use a bus shuttle which reaches directly the "Milano Centrale" station, but the minimum travel time is 1 hour and can be quite worse in heavy traffic conditions.
Accomodation
There is a wide choice of hotels in Florence, but please book your hotel as soon as possible, as often tourist are more than available beds!
Here we report some hotels that are frequently used by the Observatory guests:
- Hotels downtown
- Hotels close to the venue
