2005 Seminar Location

Location and Accommodation:

The meeting will be held at the Villa La Pietra (Villa Sassetti),
Via Bolognese 120, Florence, Italy.
Villa La Pietra is a historic Florentine villa surrounded by a very beautiful formal garden. It is approached by a magnificent long cypress avenue and is set in extensive peaceful grounds planted with olive trees. The garden includes the Teatrino, a green theater used for decades for outdoor performances, the Limonaia (which houses lemon trees in terracotta pots during the winter), the Pomario, the walled kitchen garden, and the Campo with its olive groves. The meeting will be held within Villa La Pietra at Villa Sasseti.

Accommodation

There are many hotels in the city of Florence that can be booked online using www.hotels.com. Also, using email to customerservice@bookings.org or by calling (31) 0207125600 can be very helpful. A short list of central hotels is given below:

(1) Hotel Savoy, Piazza della Republica 7. (2) Anglo american Hotel, Via Garibaldi 9. (3) Grand Hotel Baglioni in Piazza dell'Unita Italiana 6. (4) Hotel Brunelleschi, Piazza Santa Elizabetta 3. (5) Hotel de la Ville, Piazza Antinori 1. (6) Grand Hotel Minerva, Piazza Santa Maria Novella 7. (7) Hotel Kraft, Via Solferino 2. (8) Hotel Michelangelo, Viale Fratelli Rosselli 2.(9) Hotel Sofitel, Via dei Cerretani 10. (10) Hotel Roma, Piazza Santa Maria Novella 8.

There will be a shuttle that will pick up participant at a central location (to be announced) to go to the meeting site (Villa La Pietra) which is 10 minutes away by car.

Travel

By Air: The main international airport for Florence and Tuscany is on the coast at Pisa, which has a railway station with trains to Florence in one hour. There is also a coach service. There is another, smaller airport on the outskirts of Florence with flights from Europe, connected to the center of Florence by bus and taxi.
By Train: If you are arriving from other cities in Italy or Europe, Florence is very well served by the railway. Florence is on the main line from Milan and Bologna to Rome. For train information, please visit: www.trenitalia.com. To reach La Pietra from Florence railway station (Santa Maria Novella) which is in the center of the city, you can take a bus (No. 25) or taxi (journey time less than 20 minutes). The bus starts on the east side of Piazza Stazione and runs via Piazza San Marco to Via Bolognese with the stop ‘La Pietra’ is just beyond the gate of the villa.
By car:Take highway exit A1-A11 “Firenze Nord-Aereoporto.” After exiting follow the signs for “Centro – Porta al Prato.” From Porta al Prato, follow the signs to “Viali di Circonvallazione” and “Stadio”. The Viali di Circonvallazione will bring you to Piazza della Liberta. From Piazza della Liberta, follow the signs to “Bologna”. This will put you on the Via Bolognese. La Pietra is located on Via Bolognese 120 (approximately 1 mile from Piazza della Liberta). There is ample parking on the grounds. To enter the estate, please ring the doorbell labeled “Villa La Pietra.” You will see “Parking” signs once you have entered the estate.
General tourist information and accommodations can be found at www.firenze.turismo.toscana.it.
Additional information regarding hotels will be available at a later date.