The Symposium will be hosted by the City of Rapallo, a community in the province of Genoa, in Liguria, Italy. It is situated on the Tigullio Gulf, located between Portofino and Chiavari, about 80 km from the Cinque Terre National Park. As of 2003 Rapallo comprises approximately 34,000 inhabitants. It is about 30 km from Genova and 140 km from Pisa, both of which have international airports. There is a Pisa-Genova train line which conveniently stops in Rapallo.

The Clarisse auditorium

The Symposium will be held at the Clarisse Auditorium, which is located within the historical town and very close to sea side (see the map). The Clarisse Auditorium was originally a convent. After several years of restoration, it reopened in 1995 and is now one of the main congress centers on the Ligurian coast. Considering the balcony and the main floor, the theater seats roughly 250.

History of Rapallo (adapted from Wikipedia)

The first settlement dates probably from the 8th century BC, although the findings have not clarified if it was Etruscan or Greek. Conquered by the Lombards in 643, the village of Rapallo was included in the county of Genoa under Charlemagne. The name of the city appears for the first time in a document from 964. In 1203 the City of Rapallo was created, which in 1229 became a Genoese dominion. Galleys from Rapallo took part in the famous Battle of Meloria (1284) between two of the main Italian Marine Republics, Pisa and Genoa. During the 16th century Rapallo was attacked and sacked by the Ottomans and Barbary pirates; to help defend the village against such attacks a castle was built on the seafront. In the late 18th century it was captured by the French who, after several clashes against Austro-Russian troops, in 1805 annexed it to the Apennins departement. In 1814 the English freed it, and the following year the city was given to the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

The city and its residents

Rapallo has been known for its climate that made it over the years the preferred winter residence for most of the affluent Italians living in the North West of Italy. Its mild winters let people enjoy easy strolls on the sunny promenade, and enable golfers to play on one of the oldest courses in Italy, opened in 1930.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that the ideas for Zarathustra first came to him while walking on two roads surrounding Rapallo, according to Elisabeth Forster-Nietzsche in the introduction of Thomas Common's translation of Thus Spake Zarathustra. Ezra Pound spent much of the late 1920s and 1930s living in the town.

Hotels and restaurants

Prices for a single room range from about 45 euros. There are many hotels and restaurants within walking distance of the Clarisse Auditorium.