A Welcome Cocktail reception will be taking place on Wednesday 18th January from 6:00pm - 7:30pm at I Portici Hotel

The conference will take place at Aeroporto di Bologna on Thursday 19th and Friday 20th January, 2017, from 9:30am - 4:00pm, in the meeting room located next to the VIP lounge prior to departures.
Airport address: Via del Triumvirato, 84, 40132 Bologna, Italy.

WALA has secured a limited number of rooms at the I Portici Hotel available at a special rate for WALA delegates
This hotel is conveniently located in the downtown area of Bologna city, about 15 minutes from the airport.

Hotel Address: Via Indipendenza, 69, 40121 Bologna, Italy

Upon arrival, there are several means of transport from the airport to the hotel

• Taxi service: about 15 minutes, estimated rate: EUR 20
• Bus Services

For those delegates staying at the I Portici Hotel, a complimentary transportation bus service will be offered on the 2 days of the conference (Thursday and Friday, January 19-20) as follows

• Leaving Hotel to Airport Conference room: 8:30am
• From Airport Back to Hotel: 4:00pm

Fusing haughty elegance with down-to-earth grit in one beautifully colonnaded medieval grid, Bologna is a city of two intriguing halves. On one side is a hard-working, hi-tech city located in the super-rich Po valley where suave opera-goers waltz out of regal theatres and reconvene in some of the nation's finest restaurants and trattorias. On the other is a Bolshie, politically edgy city that hosts the world's oldest university and is famous for its graffiti-embellished piazzas filled with mildly inebriated students swapping Gothic fashion tips.

Surrounded by hills, Bologna's city center is still much as it was during the Renaissance with handsome red-colored buildings, medieval palaces, porticoed streets with covered walkways and marbled floors, and the enchanting leaning towers of Asinelli and Garisenda.

Bologna provides the best of several worlds. It has beautiful piazzas, churches, and museums; it's an important commercial center; a thriving university town filled with cafes, bars, and nightlife; and a gastronomic heaven, famous for its pasta, sausage, cheese, and wine.

Bologna is also the capital of the province of the same name and of the Emilia-Romagna region.

The University of Bologna, the oldest of Europe, was founded in 1088 as a law school by a group of scholars trying to settle the disputes between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy. Today, it is an international center for academic conferences and publishing.

The currency is Euros

The expected weather in January varies between 1 Celsius and 8 Celsius

Description credit: Lonely Planet guide