Location

The workshop will be held at Villa Toeplitz, which was built at the end of the 19th century. The villa is located 2km outside the town on Varese in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy. The property belongs to the University of Insubria. Links about Villa Toeplitz here and here.

View of the grounds of Villa Toeplitz

Getting there

You can get to Varese by train or by flight and train, or by car and then, from Varese you can get to Villa Toeplitz by bus, by car or by taxi.

Getting to Varese

By plane and public transport: From “Milano Malpensa Airport”: take the Malpensa Express until Saronno; in Saronno, take a Trenitalia or FNM (Ferrovie Nord Milano) train to Varese (be careful that some Malpensa Express trains go directly to “Milano Nord Cadorna” without stopping in Saronno). Otherwise, from the airport you can take another train, or the bus "Autolinea Extraurbana Gallarate-Malpensa-Castelnovate" from Terminal 2 to Gallarate and stop in "Gallarate Stazione F.S."; then take a Trenitalia or FNM (Ferrovie Nord Milano) train to Varese. Note that at the airport, the train station is at Terminal 1 (Terminal 1 and 2 are connected by a free bus).

From “Milano Linate Airport”: take the bus (e.g., line 73, line X73, or this line) to Milano Central Station, and then take a Trenitalia train to Varese (see below for details on how to get to Varese by train).

From “Bergamo-Orio al Serio Airport”: take the bus (this line) to Milano Central Station, and then take a Trenitalia train to Varese (see below for details on how to get to Varese by train).

By train: There are two main train stations in Varese: “Varese” and “Varese Nord”.

From Milano: for the line Milano-Varese these are two train companies, FS (Trenitalia) and FNM (Ferrovie Nord Milano or TreNord).

-FS connects “Milano Central” (Milano Stazione C.le) to “Varese” via either “Milano Porta Garibaldi”, or “Rho-Fiera Milano”, or “Gallarate” (to go from “Central Station” to “Milano Porta Garibalda” you should take the underground (MM2, green line) for 2 stations).
-FNM connects “Milano Nord Cadorna” to “Varese Nord” via “Saronno”.

From Como: you can take Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM) train until Saronno (direction: Milan), then change train and go to Varese (approx. 1 hour).

By car: Varese is easily reachable by motorway. It is approx. one hour from Milano and it is next to the Switzerland border.

Getting to Villa Toeplitz from from Varese

By bus: Buy an urban bus ticket at any newsstand in Varese and take the "C" bus in the direction of Sacro Monte. The bus stop is Virgilio, 26 (Prealpi), and is about 200m from the Villa. The ride lasts approx. 15 minutes. The timetable and route map can be found here.

By car: Once you’ve arrived in the town of Varese, Villa Toeplitz lies at the bottom of the Sacro Monte. Follow the signs for “Sacro Monte/ Campo dei Fiori”. When you are close to the Villa you’ll see the signs for the parking area.

Accommodation

There are two hotels in Varese which will apply a discounted rate for the conference participants. They are:

City Hotel Varese (in english) 4 stars

Double room (single or double occupancy): 79 EUR, breakfast included

Triple room: 89 EUR, breakfast included

Hotel Europa (in english), 3 stars

Double room (single occupancy): 70 EUR, breakfast included

Double room (double occupancy): 80 EUR, breakfast included

We have been advised that these hotels cannot hold rooms in advance, in order to do so they require a credit card as warranty. Nevertheless, they apply the discounted rate above, without deadlines on the reservation. Participants are encouraged to make a reservation as soon as possible to ensure availability. To make a reservation at one of these two hotels at the discounted rate, you must specify the agreement with the University of Pisa and Insubria.

Otherwise, there are two hotels at a walking distance (around 15-20 minutes) from the Villa, but they are not in the town. There is no agreement with these two hotels. They are:

Hotel Ca’ dei Santi, 4 stars

B&B Villa Adriana, (in english)