Proposal to host the 2010 ATLAS overview week in Genoa, Italy

here

Genoa, a town of sailors and merchants

• Genoa is Italy's leading port and centre of maritime trade. It is known as “La Superba” on account of its splendid marble palaces. It has a magnificent location, particularly when seen from the sea, rising in a wide arc on the lower slopes of the Ligurian Appennines. The old town is a maze of narrow streets, many of them steep, which are filled with the colourful and noisy activity of a Mediterranean town. The tall lighthouse (”La Lanterna”) on the west side is the emblem of the town.

• Genoa first appeared in history in 218 BC, as capital of the Ligurians. Starting from the 10th century AD Genoa was as an independent republic for more than 5 centuries and became rich thanks to the trade with the East. After a period under foreign masters the independence was restored in 1528 by Admiral Andrea Doria. A second period of wealth begun as testified by the buildings in Strada Nuova (now Via Garibaldi) and came to an end in 1684 after the French attack to the fleet. After periods under French and then Austrian rule, Genoa became first (1815) part of the kingdom of Sardinia and then (1860) of Italy.

• Famous natives of Genoa include the national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (son of a Genoan from Nice), Cristoforo Colombo, discoverer of America and the great virtuoso of the violin, Niccolò Paganini.

• The old palaces of the nobility, more numerous and more splendid in Genoa than in any other Italian town, give some impression of the magnificent lifestyle of the 16th and 17th centuries. The pattern of the Genoan palaces with its grandiose distribution of architectural masses and its skilful use of rising ground, was set by the Perugian architect Galeazzo Alessi (1512-72) and his successors.

2

19/04/23 3

600m

lanterna

bigo

Piazza Deferrari

Boccadasse

S.Lorenzo

Old town

centre

A-week

Palazzo Ducale

Genoa at a glance

University of Genoa• The University of Genoa

is one of the largest universities in Italy.

• It was founded in 1471. It currently has about 40,000 students, 1,800 teaching and research staff and about 1,580 administrative staff.

• The Physics Department is in a modern unconventional building

• The activity in Particle Physics with accelerators includes ATLAS, BaBar, LHCb and Totem 4

5

Genoa and science• Genoa is also a town of science and technology (the

winding of the ATLAS toroids have been done in Genoa, and the CMS and BaBar solenoids have also been built here in Ansaldo) and welcomes each year since 2003 a 10-day “Science Festival”.

• The 2009 science festival is dedicated to the future and has attracted more than 300000 visitors (mostly young people).

• For more details (in italian) see the web site at: http://www.festivalscienza.it/site/Home.html

6

Conference information • Organizing Committee: D. Barberis, R. Beccherle, A. Brunengo,

T.Cornelissen, G. Darbo, G. Gagliardi, C. Gemme, P. Morettini, L.Opisso, B. Osculati, S. Passaggio and L. Rossi (chair).

• Location: the conference will take place in a modern conference centre inside the old harbour (Porto Antico) of Genoa which has been reshaped about 25 years ago by the architect Renzo Piano. The old harbour is within walking distance from the city center.

• Topical parallel meetings: can be hosted in the Physics Department (several rooms available, max size 150 seats)

• Date: the proposal is for the July ATLAS week (28/62/7/2010)• Travel: Genoa can be reached by car from CERN (~ 4 hrs drive,

motorway all along), by train or by plane (International Airport Cristoforo Colombo). The airport is on the sea shore and close to the town center (~20 EUR for a taxi to go downtown or 5 EUR for the airport bus).The closest Intercontinental Airports are Milan Malpensa or Rome Fiumicino (the latter is connected to Genoa with ~10 flights/day). Buses from CERN and back can be organized upon request.

7

Conference information

The season is good for swimming in the sea. Frequent trains (both main railway stations are close to Porto Antico or to the Hotels) will bring you to Camogli (or other nice places for swimming) in half an hour or less.

• Visa: Schengen visa required. If you are in Geneva with a visa, this same visa will allow you to travel to Genoa. • Cost: a fee of 380 € will be requested (300 € for students). This can be paid with credit cards and will cover lunches, coffee breaks, banquet and social events.• Hotels: 400 rooms have been prebooked, 4* hotels ~120 €/night, 3* ~90 €/night, lower fare hotels will also be proposed• Wireless: available in the conference room for those registered.• Support: Possible financial support for few participants.• Accompanying persons: Possible to reserve Genoa sightseeing, and tour in Liguria (Portofino, San Fruttuoso, Cinque Terre, etc.).

8

The conference will he held inside the Magazzini del Cotone of the Old Harbour, inside Sala Maestrale

Sala Maestrale has 450 seats in the lower room (+300 in the upper room if needed) and modern conference support.

Lunch and coffee breaks are served in the same building (80 m apart).

9

The conference welcome, secretariat and press room is below the conference room at the ground floor of the building

The place around the Magazzini del Cotone is nice, with beautiful views on the town. There are no cars and walking around is very pleasant.

10

SOCIAL PROGRAM • There will be a welcome

cocktail, a banquet and one (or two) cultural events

• The banquet will take place inside Palazzo Ducale in the so called Cisterne, the place under the palace for water storage.

• The main cultural event will again be inside Palazzo Ducale in the courtyard (open or close part, depending on weather) and will consist of opera singers and piano players performing for us.

• Visit to Palazzo del Principe where a Caravaggio painting will be exposed in this period is also being considered in addition.

11

General InformationWeather - In June/July, the temperature in Genoa is about 20-25 C (68-77 F) during daytime and 12-15 C (50-59 F) at night, with ~80% probablity of sunny days.

Electricity - The electricity supply is 220 volts, 50 Hz. Official plug types are type C (round pin attachment plug), type F ("Schuko" plug) and type L (round pins with round in-line grounding plug). Adapters may be required.

Currency - The official currency in Italy is Euro (€).

Time zone - Italy is located in the Central European Time Zone, GMT +1 (+2 during summer).

Tipping - Service charges are included in your restaurant bill, so you are not expected to tip. It is common practice, however, to leave a small amount. In bars, Italians will usually leave any small change as a tip, but this is by no means compulsory. Tipping taxi drivers is not necessary.

if you still have doubts (and you have a PC *)...

spend 3 more minutes and have a look at the movie about Genoa at:

http://www.ge.infn.it/~rossi/FilmGenova.wmv

---------------------------------------(*) if instead you have a MAC you have to:

first install the freeware plug-in athttp://www.telestream.net/update-check/wmv/wmv-update-player.htm

and then cut&paste the address of the movie in your preferred browser

12