The welcome reception will be held at the Terrazza Belvedere of the Villa Bardini Gardens, one of the top attractions in Florence (check its Tripadvisor entry for a gallery). Placed over four hectares between the left bank of the Arno river, the Montecuccoli hill, and the medieval walls, the gardens offer spectacular and unique views of the city. Originally built in the 12th century as a part of a large estate owned by the Mozzi family, they were enriched with fountains with mosaics in the 18th century, and enlarged again in Victorian style in the 19th century. After being closed for many years in the 20th century, the gardens were reopened in 2005 after a significant restoration that brought them back to their original look.

The Bardini Gardens can be reached from the conference venue with a 20-minute walk across the city center. The entrance will be from Via dei Bardi 1R starting from 6:30pm until 7pm, and from Costa San Giorgio 2 after 7pm. The entrance from Via dei Bardi is really recommended, as this permits to reach the Terrazza Belvedere through a baroque staircase crossing a beautiful Italian garden. The exit will be from Costa San Giorgio 2.

The welcome reception includes a visit to the exhibition "Giovanni Colacicchi - Images of rhythm and light in 20th-century Florence". Giovanni Colacicchi was an Italian landscape and realistic painter, one of the leading cultural and artistic figures of the 20th century in Florence.

The social event will be held at the restaurant Da Bobo all'Acciaiolo, managed by an association affiliated with the Slow Food movement, which promotes culinary traditions, local products, and farming of plants, seeds and livestock.

The restaurant is located in the center of Scandicci, a small town in the county of Florence. In the recent years, Scandicci has been the center of a significant urban regeneration to transform the area from a remote satellite town into a renewed city hub. To this end, a series of buildings (including the new town centre designed by the British architect Richard Rogers) and a new tram line (connecting the town to the center of Florence) have been built around a public square.

The restaurant is hosted within the Castello dell'Acciaiolo, a historical building owned by important Florentine families since the 14th century, originally with military functions. Although the castle lost its defensive role since the 16th century, its image of an ancient fortified factory has been preserved until nowadays.

The restaurant is directly connected to the center of Florence (Santa Maria Novella station) through the tramway (20 minutes trip from the Alamanni-Stazione stop to the Resistenza stop, with the last run to come back at midnight).

The social event will start off at 8pm with a talk by Prof. Giacomo Tempesta (Architecture School of the University of Florence), who contributed to the structural and historical studies that unveiled the way how Filippo Brunelleschi built the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence.