User:DavidBottan/sandbox

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Wikimania 2013 candidate cities:

Final Candidate Cities: Hong Kong | London

Other Candidate Cities: Surakarta | Bristol | Naples

Conference venue

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  • The Congress Centre is
  1. Main hall: a *** seats auditorium
  2. Seminar rooms: (number)
  3. Lounge facilities:
  4. Other rooms (organisation, staff, speakers, interviews/press, storage):
  • Socializing areas (Garden, lounge etc.), their capacity and the hours at which they are opened/closed:
  • Contacts with conference venue (emails, price quotes etc.)
  • Technical facilities
    • Existing technical installations
      (on site Audio-visual...)
    • Wireless Network implementation
(existing? to be built? easiness of implementation?)

Accommodation

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  • Location of main accommodation facilities, Room details and price range
(What's the accommodation like? Dorms, B&B, Hotel? Singles, doubles? How much does it cost per person and per day?)

In Naples are available all sorts of accommodation types, from luxury 5 stars hotels to hostels. A number of locations are currently under evaluation, including:

  • Youth Hostel "Mergellina" (200 pax)
  • Catering (one meal a day, breakfast is a plus)
(Where do we eat, how much it costs)
  • Contacts with accommodation partner(s)

Party opportunities

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Wikimania traditionally hosts two parties, one for attendees (capacity of 250-350) and one for sponsors and VIPs (capacity 40-60).

  • Attendees party(ies) propositions
(location, how to get there, what's cool and relaxed about it)
  • Sponsor party(ies) proposition
(location, how to get there, what's chic and high profile about it)

Travel and transportation

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Air transport

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  • The Naples International Airport hosts direct flights from all the major European cities, and serves a consistent number of worldwide locations. For the countries not directly served by Naples' hub, the two international airports of Rome Fiumicino (all airlines) and Rome Ciampino (low-cost airlines) are comfortably reached in 1 hour of high-speed train.

Direct flights to Naples International Airport

Country Airline Town
Austria Austrian Airlines Wien
Belgium Brussels Airlines
Jetairfly
Thomas Cook Airlines
Bruxelles
Czech Republic Smart Wings
Wizz Air
Prague
Denmark Cimber Sterling Copenhagen
France Air France
Easy Jet
Astraeus Airlines
XL Airways France
Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly
Germany Air Berlin
Easy Jet
Germanwings
InterSky
Lufthansa
Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin-Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin-Schönefeld, Hanover, Friedrichshafen
Greece Alitalia
Meridiana Fly
Athens, Heraklion
Hungary Wizz Air Budapest
Ireland Aer Lingus
Europe Airpost
Dublin
Israel El Al Tel Aviv
Luxembourg Luxair Luxembourg
Malta Air Malta Malta
Netherlands Transavia Amsterdam
Romania Blue Air
Wizz Air
Bucharest-Băneasa
Russia Globus Airlines
VIM Airlines
Moscow-Domodedovo
Spain Easy Jet
Iberia Airlines
Spanair
Vueling Airlines
Madrid, Ibiza, Barcelona
Switzerland Easy Jet Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva
Tunisia Tunis Air Express Tunis
Turkey Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk
United Kingdom bmibaby
British Airways
Easy Jet
Thomson Airways
East Midlands, Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London-Gatwick, London-Stansted, Birmingham, Glasgow-International, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
United States of America Meridiana Fly New York-JFK
Ukraine Aerosvit Airlines Kiev-Boryspil



Estimation of travel costs from all continents (prices include the return flight)
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    • Direct flights from most of European airports:


Distance from international airport(s) and how do we get to the location
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  • Naples International Airport is inside the town, at brief distance (5.9 km; 3.7 mi) from the city center, easily reached by ground transportation (bus, taxi). In about 15 minutes one of the stations of the Naples Metro is reachable, and this provides low-cost and rapid connection (1,20 € per ticket, valid 90 min. for all the means of transportation) to any point of the town. A direct metro line from airport to city center is currently under construction, and it should have to be ready on 2013. However, being an ongoing project, at the moment it should not have to be regarded as a confirmed option of transportation.
  • Rome Fiumicino and Rome Ciampino International Airports are connected to Roma Termini railway station with urban trains (costs variable between 2-18 €, depending on the airport). An (Eurostar high-speed train connects Termini station with Naples in about 1 hour (2nd class ticket cost:42 €).

Local transportation

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The Circumvesuviana system

Naples is an extremely well interconnected town, both internally and with its immediate surroundings.

Railroad lines
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The city center is capillary served by the Naples Metro, a modern underground transportation system, which connects all the main point of interest and landmarks.

Naples Metro has different types of fares, as per the following table:

Ticket Price Validity Notes
Single €1.20 90 min Can be used multiple times with 90 minute validity on all forms of public transport
Day Pass €3.00 24 hours
Weekend Day Pass €2.50 24 hours Only available on Saturday or Sunday
Monthly Pass €35.00 30 days Unlimited travel within validity period


Naples Metro is directly linked both with Trenitalia national railroad system (which connects with Rome and the rest of the country); and the two regional railroads which serve the surroundings of Naples: Ferrovia Cumana (subdivided in Cumana and Circumflegrea lines) and Circumvesuviana). Of particular interest to tourists (see below) is the Circumvesuviana, which connects the center of Naples with Herculaneum (16 minutes, A/R ticket cost: € 4,20); Pompeii (35 minutes, A/R ticket cost: € 5,60); and Sorrento (50 minutes, A/R ticket cost: € 8,00).

Naples Metro is itself a tourist attraction, since many of its newest stations were built and decorated with modern art works. On 2009, it won the prize for the "Most Innovative Approach to Station Development" at Metros 2009.

Local social opportunities

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Naples is the hometown of Neapolitan pizza, here topped by a Mozzarella di bufala "bocconcino"
 
Naples is the hometown of Neapolitan babà
(Wikimania usually does not offer dinner. What are the surroundings of the location like? Lots of restaurants and places to hang out?
Food
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Naples is a place where finding quality food at affordable price is not an issue at all.

Its nature as a sea port made available ingredients of the most diverse origin, which in connection with locally available elements resulted in an unparalleled mixture of flavours. Seafood is naturally a must, alone or in combination with types of local pasta types, as linguine and spaghetti. From the surrounding countryside come a vast variety of meats and cheeses. As a result, the Neapolitan cuisine is one of the most appreciated expressions of the Mediterranean diet.

Naples is the hometown of some very known and specific dishes and aliments, like Neapolitan pizza, Mozzarella di bufala and Neapolitan babà.

Not to be neglected, the presence of foreign communities in Naples (especially Greek, Chinese, Northafrican and from many countries of Eastern Europe) make available the dishes of those cultures.

Visa challenges

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EU (Schengen) visa lists      EU member states     Visa-free access to the EU for 90 days - annex II countries     Visa required to enter the EU - annex I countries      Visa-status unknown

Italy is a member country of the European Union. This means that all citizens of EU member states with a valid travel document (passport or European ID card) are allowed to travel freely within Italy for up to 3 months. Citizens of other states may need Schengen visa, see the map for quick reference.

All the countries below have visa-free access to the EU for at least 90 days.

  Andorra
  Argentina
  Australia
  Austria*
  Bahamas
  Belgium*
  Brazil
  Bulgaria*
  Canada
  Chile
  Costa Rica
  Croatia
  Cyprus*
  Czech Republic*
  Denmark*
  El Salvador
  Estonia*
  Finland*
  France*
  Germany*
  Greece*
  Guatemala
  Honduras
  Hungary*
  Iceland
  Ireland*
  Israel
  Italy*
  Japan
  Latvia*
  Liechtenstein
  Lithuania*
  Luxembourg*
  Macedonia
  Malaysia
  Malta*
  Mexico
  Monaco
  Netherlands*
  New Zealand
  Nicaragua
  Norway
  Panama
  Paraguay
  Poland*
  Portugal*
  Romania*
  San Marino
  Singapore
  Slovakia*
  Slovenia*
  Republic of Korea
  Spain*
  Sweden*
  Switzerland
  United Kingdom*
  United States
  Uruguay
  Vatican City State
  Venezuela

* - EU member states

Foreign embassies in Naples

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Foreign embassies and consulates either in Naples and/or in Rome      Countries with embassies or consulates in Naples      Countries with embassies or consulates in Rome      Countries with embassies or consulates in Naples and in Rome      No embassy or consulate in Naples and/or in Rome

As a prominent international city, Naples hosts 55 embassies and consulates from all over the world. This can greatly facilitate and speed up the process of visas obtainment for relevant participants. Plus, it gives a familial point of reference to which address for any problems/needs.

List of the foreign embassies and consulates in Naples
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North America
  1.   United States
  2.   Canada
South America
  1.   Uruguay
  2.   Mexico
  3.   Bolivia
  4.   Venezuela
  5.   Cuba
  6.   Paraguay
  7.   Chile
  8.   Honduras
  9.   Guatemala
  10.   Perù
  11.   Dominican Republic
  12.   El Salvador
Europe
  1.   Germany
  2.   Netherlands
  3.   Cyprus
  4.   Ukraine
  5.   United Kingdom
  6.   Czech Republic
  7.   Iceland
  8.   Spain
  9.   Hungary
  10.   Luxembourg
  11.   San Marino
  12.   Austria
  13.   Monaco
  14.   Malta
  15.   Turkey
  16.   France
  17.   Sweden
  18.   Portugal
  19.   Switzerland
  20.   Belgium
  21.   Greece
  22.   Denmark
  23.   Finland
  24.   Norway
Africa
  1.   Tunisia
  2.   Niger
  3.   Liberia
  4.   Sierra Leone
  5.   Senegal
  6.   South Africa
  7.   Algeria
  8.   Cameroon
  9.   Ivory Coast
  10.   Cape Verde
  11.   Gabon
Asia
  1.   Indonesia
  2.   Bangladesh
  3.   Thailand
  4.   Pakistan
  5.   South Korea
  6.   Sri Lanka

Tourism opportunities

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Long and rich history of Naples and its surroundings makes available countless and heterogeneous opportunities of tourism.

Urban center of Naples
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The flagellation of Christ, by Caravaggio, exposed at the Museum of Capodimonte
 
The church of San Francesco di Paola
 
Palazzo Reale (the Royal Palace)
 
Castel Nuovo, or the Maschio Angioino
 
The Cloister of Santa Chiara
 
The San Carlo Theater (interior)

Naples' landmarks

As a UNESCO World Heritage site, the center of Naples hosts a huge number of architectural landmarks.

A non-comprehensive list of the most notable monuments and sites includes:

  • Albergo dei Poveri (Bourbon Hospice for the Poor) is a former public hospital/almshouse. It was designed by the architect Ferdinando Fuga, and construction was started in 1751. It is five storeys tall and about 300 m long. It was popularly known as "Palazzo Fuga". King Charles III of the House of Bourbon meant the facility to house the destitute and ill, as well as to provide a self-sufficient community where the poor would live and work. The building was originally designed with five courtyards and a church in the centre, but only the three innermost courtyards were built, and plans to complete the building according to the original design were finally abandoned in 1819. It is no longer a hospital, and has suffered much from neglect and earthquakes. The centre behind the entrance is used for exhibitions, conferences, and concerts. Recently (2006) the façade has undergone restoration as part of a plan to incorporate the facility into the working infrastructure of public buildings in Naples.
  • San Francesco di Paola
  • Cappella Sansevero. Built on 1590, it contains works of art by some of the leading Italian artists of the 18th century, like the extraordinary Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino. It also has a high scientific interest because it hosts the anatomical machines, a still mysterious experiment by Raimondo Di Sangro, a prominent Renaissance scientist.
  • Castel dell'Ovo (Egg Castle) is a castle located on the former island of Megaride, now a peninsula, on the Gulf of Naples. The castle's name comes from a legend about the Roman poet Virgil, who had a reputation in medieval times as a great sorcerer, that he put a magical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications. The island of Megaride was where Greek colonists from Cumae founded the original nucleus of the city in the 6th century BC. In the 1st century BC the Roman patrician Lucius Licinius Lucullus built the magnificent villa Castellum Lucullanum on the site. The first castle on the site was built by the Normans in the 12th century.
  • Castel Nuovo, 'Castel Nuovo' ("New Castle"), often called Maschio Angioino, is a medieval castle and the main symbol of the architecture of the city. It was first begun in 1279 by Charles I of Anjou and completed three years later. Castel Nuovo soon became the nucleus of the historical center of the city, and was often the site of famous events. For example, on December 13, 1294, Pope Celestine V resigned as pope in a hall of the castle. The event was famously depicted by Dante Alighieri in his masterpiece la Divina Commedia, in the verse Colui che per viltade fece il gran rifiuto.
  • Certosa di San Martino
  • Gesù Nuovo
  • Palazzo Reale is one of the four residences used by the Bourbon Kings of Naples during their rule of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies (1730-1860). The Royal Palace is on the site of an earlier building meant to host King Philip III of Spain, who however never made the trip. The architect chosen for that palace was Domenico Fontana. The building was put up on the site of an even older Spanish viceroyal residence from the early 16th century. The 17th century palace visible today is the result of numerous additions and changes, including some by Luigi Vanvitelli in the mid-18th century and then by Gaetano Genovese.
  • Posillipo
  • San Domenico Maggiore is one of the most prominent churches of Naples. This Gothic church (est. 1283) incorporates a smaller, original church built on this site in the 10th century, San Michele Arcangelo a Morfisa. The monastery annexed to the church has been the home of prominent names in the history of religion and philosophy. It was the original seat of the University of Naples, where Thomas Aquinas, a former monk at San Domenico Maggiore, returned to teach theology in 1272. As well, the philosopher monk, Giordano Bruno, lived here. The sacristy houses a series of 45 sepulchres of members of the royal Aragonese family, including that of King Ferdinand I.
  • Santa Chiara a religious complex, that includes the Church of Santa Chiara, a monastery, tombs and an archeological museum. The double monastic complex was built in 1313-1340 by Queen Sancha of Majorca and her husband King Robert of Naples. The original church was in traditional Provençal-Gothic style, but was decorated in the 1744 century in Baroque style by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro. Santa Chiara was the largest Clarissan church ever built and it was the first Clarissan church built where the nuns in their choir would have been able to view the performance of Mass. The bell tower, separated from the main edifice, was begun in 1328 but was completed only in Reinassance times. The simple interior houses the tomb of King Robert and, in the side chapels, those of the Bourbon king of Naples, Francis II and his consort Maria Sophie of Bavaria, as well as of Queen Maria Christina of Savoy and of the national hero Salvo d'Acquisto (a carabiniere who sacrificed his own life to save the lives of 22 civilian hostages at the time of the Nazi occupation). Famous is the cloister of the Clarisses, transformed in 1742 by Vaccaro with the addition of precious majolica tiles in Rococò style. The Nuns' Choir houses fragments of frescoes by Giotto.
  • Teatro San Carlo, founded on 1737, it is the oldest continuously active opera house in Europe. In XVIII century, Naples was the capital of European music and even foreign composers like Hasse, Haydn, Johann Christian Bach and Gluck considered the performance of their compositions at the San Carlo theatre as the goal of their career. Two main Italian opera composers, Gioacchino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti were artistic directors of the San Carlo for many years. Other prominent opera composers, like Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni and Leoncavallo staged here the very first representations of their works (like for example the famous Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti).
  • Galleria Umberto I
  • Naples Cathedral, built in XIII century, is the main church of Naples. It is widely known as the Cattedrale di San Gennaro, in honour of Saint Januarius, the city's patron saint. It was built on the foundations of two palaeo-Christian basilicas, whose traces can still be clearly seen. Underneath the building excavations have revealed Greek and Roman artifacts.

Museums

 
The Corridors, Roman real-size bronzes from Herculaneum, exposed at the Naples National Archeological Museum
Naples' surroundings
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The Forum of Pompeii with the Vesuvius in the background
 
The Royal Palace of Caserta and its park
 
The Sorrento Coast
 
The Paestum Greek Temples
  • Vesuvius (10 km). A stratovolcano placed directly on the coast in the middle of the homonimous National Park, it is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting. Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
  • Solfatara (12 km). It is a shallow volcanic crater at Pozzuoli, part of the Campi Flegrei volcanic area. It is a dormant volcano, which still emits jets of steam with sulphurous fumes.
  • Herculaneum (13 km). A world-famous archeological site, part of the UNESCO World Heritage list. It was an ancient Roman town destroyed, together with Pompeii, Oplontis and Stabiae, by volcanic pyroclastic flows of Vesuvius, AD 79. It is famous as the source of the first Roman skeletal and physical remains available for study that were located by science, for the Romans almost universally cremated their dead.
  • Pompeii (25 km) The world-famous city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman urban center, and one of the best examples of Roman architecture in the world. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in the year AD 79. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1749. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year. Pompeii epopea was famously depicted in a huge number of movies, under the common name of The Last Days of Pompeii. Among the hundreds of scientific and fiction books written around its story, one of the most recent is Pompeii by Robert Harris.
  • Royal Palace of Caserta (37 km). A former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century. In 1997, the Palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described in its nomination as "the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque, from which it adopted all the features needed to create the illusions of multidirectional space". Caserta was used as the location for Queen Amidala's Royal Palace on Naboo in the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and again in the 2002 film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones as Queen Jamilla's palace. The same room was also used in Mission: Impossible III as Vatican City. In fact, the square where the Lamborghini is blown up is actually the square inside the Palace. The main staircase is also used in Angels & Demons as the Vatican's staircase. The mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli used the palace as primary location for the film "L'art des castrats" that accompanies her album "Sacrificium", dedicated to the music written for the castrato singers of the baroque period.
  • Capri (40 km by boat or hydrofoil) An international turistic destination, it is an island on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, which has been a resort since the time of the Roman Republic. Features of the island are the Marina Piccola (the little harbour), the Belvedere of Tragara, which is a high panoramic promenade lined with villas, the limestone crags called sea stacks that project above the sea (the Faraglioni), Anacapri, the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra), and the ruins of the Imperial Roman villas. Capri is the place where the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus was emprisoned. The circumstance (and the imaginary salvatage of the emperor) has been featured in the movie The last legion, starring Colin Firth along with Sir Ben Kingsley and Aishwarya Rai.
  • Procida (37 km by boat or hydrofoil)
  • San Leucio (38 km)
  • Ischia (40 km by boat or hydrofoil)
  • Sorrento (50 km). A popular tourist destination which can be reached easily from Naples and Pompeii, as it lies at the south-eastern end of the Circumvesuviana rail line. The town overlooks the Bay of Naples as the key place of the Sorrentine Peninsula, and many viewpoints allow sight of Naples itself, Vesuvius and the Isle of Capri. Sorrento's sea cliffs and luxury hotels have attracted notable people, including Enrico Caruso and Luciano Pavarotti. Sorrento was the birthplace of the poet Torquato Tasso, author of the Gerusalemme Liberata. The town was quite famously featured in the early-20th-century song "Torna a Surriento" (Come Back to Sorrento) an iconic example of the Neapolitan song.
  • Amalfi coast (70 km) is a stretch of coastline in the Province of Salerno in Southern Italy. It is a popular tourist destination for the region and Italy as a whole, attracting thousands of tourists annually. Aside from the chance to visit the renowed towns of Amalfi (one of the four ancient Maritime Republics of Italy), Positano and Ravello (which hosts the Wagner festival); the Amalfi coast offers to trekkers the opportunity of walking on the "Sentiero degli Dei" (The Walk of Gods), a stunning dirt road suspended on the cliffs between the Mediterranean sea and the mountains. The area is also well known for the limoncello, a digestive liquor made out of lemons.
  • Paestum Greek Temples (104 km). Three major temples in Doric style, dating from the first half of the 6th century BC. These were dedicated to Hera (only slightly smaller than the Parthenon); and Athena, and are one of the best conserved examples of Doric architecture.

Local sponsorship opportunities

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Possibility of local sponsorships

  • Contacts
(no name needed, just "company X", 4000 USD or will provide 300 beds)

Comitato organizzatore

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  • --Ferdinando Scala 09:09, 20 October 2011 (UTC) (Languages: it-m, nap-m, en-4, fr-4, es-2)
  • --ANGELUS 15:46, 22 October 2011 (UTC)
  • --IlSistemone 13:15, 25 October 2011 (UTC)
  • --Baku 22:04, 26 October 2011 (UTC)
  • --The White Lion 23:24, 30 October 2011 (UTC)
  • --Pinotto92 11:38, 5 November 2011 (UTC)
  • --Peppos 11.36, 8 November 2011 (UTC) (Languages: it-m, nap-m, en-4, es-4)
  • --Devil90 19:28, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
  • --Archeo 17:51, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Partners

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Miscellaneous

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Anything you feel should be brought to the attention of the jury.

Self-evaluation

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  • Weaknesses of the proposed location ...and how to overcome those weaknesses
  1. Climate: As in most part of the Mediterranean, in July-August the weather in Naples can be consistently sunny and hot (average daytime temperature around 29 °C/85 °F). Participants from colder countries can find it uncomfortable.
    Solution: An efficacious way of dealing with high temperatures is simply following the Neapolitans’ habitudes. Drinking a sufficient amount of water, limiting the consumption of fat-rich food and alcohol during the day, and avoiding to get around in the hottest hours (between 12.00 and 4.00 pm) are normally effective measures. Very white, soft-skin individuals can easily avoid sunburns by wearing cotton or linen short-sleeve shirts, using appropriate solar creams and wearing sunglasses when exposing to daylight. The abovementioned measures only apply to excursions in the city during the day, while no problems are perceivable in the interior of the buildings, namely the conference sites, which are all air-conditioned. At night, temperature significantly lowers (average is 18 °C/64 °F), and a frequent wind from the sea makes dining and walking outside very comfortable.
  1. Weakness 2
    Solution 2
  • Strengths of the proposed location
  1. Strength 1
  2. Strength 2