Gold sponsors:
Don’t miss out on the opportunity for networking with top experts in the field of sustainable development from all around the world and, through our SDEWES social program, exchange ideas in a more informal way, while enjoying the beautiful sights, sounds and tastes of Sicily.
SDEWES Conference Social programme consists of Welcome reception and Social event (city centre tour + conference dinner) and is included in your Conference fee. If you are coming with your significant other, we have Accompanying person fee which is 100 EUR (for more information contact us at payment@sdewes.org).
Social programme schedule:
Sunday, September 30
Welcome reception at 18:00 h
Join us at the start of the Conference on September 30th when SDEWES Welcome reception will be held at the Conference venue, Splendid Hotel La Torre where we will meet and greet and enjoy local cuisine and spectacular view of the Mondello bay and Monte Pellegrino. Drinks and Sicilian finger food included. Please note that there will not be any organized transportation and participants are advised to use public transportation or taxi service.
Tuesday, October 2
Conference city centre tour and Conference dinner
Bus transportation (2 options):
Tour will include a visit to the Palatine Chapel, the Royal Garden and the Painting exhibition dedicated to S. Rosalia. From there, a walk to the Cathedral and then San Cataldo, Martorana and Santa Caterina d'Alessandria. Tour will end at Quattro Canti around 18 h, after which participants will have free time. Meeting point is Teatro Massimo square (Piazza Verdi) at 19:30 h from where we will go by buses to the conference dinner.
Conference dinner – 20:00 h at Tonnara Florio
Conference dinner is planned around 20:00 h at Tonnara Florio restaurant where a lovely dinner with Sicilian specialties is waiting for us (some wine and one additional drink at the bar included). Conference buses to the restaurant will depart at 19:30 h from Teatro Massimo square (Piazza Verdi). There will be bus transportation to the city centre and to Splendid la Torre hotel (with possible stops in Mondello) after the dinner. Bring your accreditation/nametag. Dress code: smart casual
We will also enjoy the performance of an academic bend with a setlist including blues, pop, rock covers travelling from Beatles, Massive Attacks, Cake to Michael Bublé. iGEM (the acronym for Electromagnetic Round Dances) was founded three years ago by professors, researchers and (PhD) students belonging to the DEIM department, University of Palermo. And later on, a DJ will take over so prepare some moves for the party on the dancefloor.
More details on the city centre sites the tour will include:
The Palatine Chapel, a testimony to the fusion of different architectural and artistic cultures, i.e., Arabic, Byzantine and Latin. Its construction, started in 1130, the year when Roger II became the first king of Sicily, was completed over a 15-year period and it was consecrated, according to an inscription in its dome, in 1143.
Its mosaics are among the most beautiful Byzantine art production that show decorations, including human figures, adorn the stalactites which makes it unique as example in the Islamic art history.
We will have the opportunity to see the Palatine Chapel, the Royal Garden and the Painting exhibition dedicated to S. Rosalia.
Interior of Palatine Chapel (zoomed view of mosaics)
The Cathedral is an extraordinary (and enormous) feast of geometric patterns, ziggurat crenulations, majolica cupolas and blind arches. Its architectural styles recall clearly how the various dominations have alternated over the centuries to the city government.
Cathedral
I Quattro Canti. The busy intersection of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda marks the Quattro Canti, the center of the oldest part of the town, from where we will walk to Piazza Pretoria. At the centre of this lovely piazza is a spectacular fountain by the 1500’s Florentine sculptor Francesco Camilliani, originally intended as a garden ornament for some Tuscan villa.
San Cataldo, Martorana and Santa Caterina d'Alessandria. Three churches located at Piazza Bellini and well-known architectural landmarks of Palermo.
Information and pictures are courtesy of the Sicilian Convention Bureau
* LOC reserves the rights to change Social events and programme
