FUDCon:Bid for Milan 2011



= FUDcon EMEA 2011 - Milan =

Local Team

 * Antonio Montagnani
 * Alexjan Carraturo
 * Barsacchi Daniele
 * Marina Latini
 * Elio Tondo
 * Vittorio Memmo
 * Fabrizio Lapiello
 * Francesco Crippa
 * Francesco D'Aluisio
 * Giulio Fidente
 * Gianluca Sforna
 * Gianluca Varisco
 * Alberto Bonacina
 * Andrea Modesto Rossi
 * Alessandro Lorenzi
 * Marco Palazzotti
 * Antonio Trande
 * Michele Bursi
 * Luca Foppiano
 * Matteo Castellini
 * Luigi Votta
 * Guido Grazioli
 * Andrea Trentini
 * ...and many others! :-) funny jokes

Date

 * June 17-19 2011 (it's the weekend before the EuroPython that will be hosted in Florence, 2h by train from Milan) or
 * September 16-18 2011 or
 * October 7-9 2011

Brief description of the city.
Milan, the capital of Lombardy, has a population of 1.3 million people. It is the biggest industrial city of Italy with many different industrial sectors. It is a magnetic point for designers, artists, photographers and models. Milan has an ancient city centre with high and interesting buildings and palazzos, which is why so many people from all over the world want to see the city of glamour. nursery rhymes

Milan is recognized as a world fashion and design capital, with a major global influence in commerce, industry, music, sport, literature, art and media, making it one of GaWC's major Alpha world cities

Further useful information :
 * Official currency: Euro (EUR)
 * Time zone: CET (UTC/GMT +1 hour)
 * Electrical ratings: 230V/50Hz, (Plug type: C/F/L, Socket type: F/L)
 * Wikipedia
 * About Milan Tourist Information
 * Lonely Planet Inforamtion
 * Identi

Airports and their distance from lodging and venue
If you arrive to Milan by airplane, you are going to land at one of the following airports:
 * Malpensa International Airport (International, Intercontinental and Low Cost Flights) 40km hilarious quotes
 * Linate Airport (International and Regional Flights) 5km
 * Bergamo Orio Al Serio Airport (Low cost Flights) 60Km

There are several services (public and private) that connect the Milan city center.
 * From/to Malpensa Airport
 * From/to Linate Airport
 * From/to Orio Al Serio Airport

Few examples with updated prices:
 * From Orio Al Serio Airport to Milan Centrale Station: Shuttle Bus (1h, Single: 8.90 EUR, Return: 16 EUR)
 * From Malpensa Airport to Milan Centrale: Express Train (30', Single: 12 EUR)
 * From Malpensa Airport to Milan Centrale: Shuttle Bus (45': Single: 7.50 EUR, Return: 12 EUR)
 * From Linate Airport to Milan Centrale: Shuttel Bus (20', Single: 4 EUR)

Estimated costs of flights major airports that attendees will travel from
Milan is easily reachable from different international location. All mayor air carries operate to and form Linate and Malpensa Airports, while the low cost carriers operate to and from Orio al Serio and Malpensa airports.

Milan is also well connected with trains to few Europeans cities. Trenitalia is the company that manages the train routes in italy. dental implants

Paris

 * Paris - Linate: 59.98 EUR
 * Paris - Malpensa: 36.98 EUR
 * Paris - Orio al Serio: 51.98 EUR

London

 * London - Linate: 49.08 EUR
 * London - Malpensa: 44.21 EUR
 * London - Orio al Serio: 80.00 EUR

Amsterdam

 * Amsterdam - Linate: 137.99 EUR
 * Amsterdam - Malpensa: 57.98 EUR

Frankfurt

 * Frankfurt - Linate: 209.88 EUR
 * Frankfurt - Malpensa: 164.97 EUR
 * Frankfurt - Orio al Serio: 39.98 EUR

Berlin

 * Berlin - Linate: 135.41 EUR
 * Berlin - Malpensa: 47.98 EUR
 * Berlin - Orio al Serio: 49.98 EUR

Brussels

 * Brussels - Linate: 136.99 EUR
 * Brussels - Malpensa: 28.48 EUR
 * Brussels - Orio al Serio: 61.98 EUR

Madrid

 * Madrid - Linate: 166.63 EUR
 * Madrid - Malpensa: 25.98 EUR
 * Madrid - Orio al Serio: 28.98 EUR

Prague

 * Prague - Linate: 136.19 EUR
 * Prague - Malpensa: 84.06 EUR

New York

 * New York - Linate: 583.92 EUR (Flight Connections)
 * New York - Malpensa: 585.03 UER (Direct)

Boston

 * Boston - Linate: 478 (Flight Connections)
 * Boston - Malpensa: 650 (Direct)

Chicago

 * Chicago - Linate: 580 EUR (Flight Connections)
 * Chicago - Malpensa: 671 EUR (Direct)

Los Angeles

 * Los Angeles - Linate: 799 (Flight Connections)
 * Los Angeles - Malpensa: 860 (Direct)

Outline of local mass transit
ATM (Azienda Trasporti Milanesi) manages the public transport service of the city of Milan and of 85 towns in the province. It provides underground train, urban tramway, inter-urban tramway, urban bus and trolley bus, interurban bus and airport transfer services.

Metro services operate between 06:00-24:00 and cover three lines. After midnight, a night-time bus service substitutes for lines 1 and 3 of the underground.

There are numerous tram routes that cover Milan. Generally trams run from 06:00-24:00. However, routes 4, 5, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, 24, 29, 30, 33 continue until about 02:00 on weekdays.


 * City Center Public Transport Map
 * Subway Network Schema

Università degli Studi di Milano
Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences (Informatics and Communication Building)

Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Informazione Università degli Studi di Milano Via Comelico, 39-41 20135 Milano Italy


 * University Web Site
 * Location
 * How to reach the venue
 * 1 Room (capacity 250 people)
 * 4 Rooms (capacity 30 people)
 * all rooms are equipped with video projectors
 * Free hi-speed wifi Internet connection available for the attendees
 * Located in the city center (easy to reach by bus/tram/subway)

All the rooms are basically available for free, but we have to pay a fee to keep the rooms open during the weekend (to pay the surveillance guys). For the 'LinuxDay' (organized in the same venue last November, 2010) the cost was 100 EUR per day (independently of the number of rooms). An estimation for the whole weekend is around 300 EUR. We already found Italian companies (ie: Byte-Code) available to cover these costs.

Andrea Trentini, in charge of the "Free Software Labs" for the University of Milan is our "insider" contact and an extremely helpful facilitator for all the communications with the University. He knows and he can effectively look after all the procedures to make the formal request for the 'booking'.

Alternatives
We can have more or less the same availability in other public Universities:
 * Universiti of Milano Bicocca
 * Dipartimenti di Tecnologie dell'Informazione - Crema

Description of proposed lodging and estimated costs

 * Best Western Hotel Major Milano
 * 4 Stars
 * Free WiFi Connectivity
 * ~100 EUR per room a day
 * 1km from the venue (15 minutes walking)
 * UNA Hotel Mediterraneo
 * 4 Stars
 * Free WiFi Connectivity
 * ~85 EUR per room a day
 * 1km from the venue (15 minutes walking)
 * Hotel Perugino
 * 3 Stars
 * Free WiFi Connectivity
 * ~40 EUR per room a day
 * 500m from the venue (5 minutes walking)

Brief description of on the ground resources and their experience with FUDcon/other large events
Francesco Crippa (the one is writing this page ;-) ) (Blog, Facebook, Flickr, Fedora page) has attended many fudcons (USA and EMA) and other fedora events (Fosdem. Linuxtag, etc) in last few years, including events developed in partnership with Red Hat (summit, partner summit, opensource days, etc...) and other companies.

Other Italian/Local folks: please insert here your experience!

Notation of internet connectivity options for both hotel and conference venue
Internet will be available (wifi) for free on the venue (high speed) and it's free in some of the hotels proposed

Outline of proximate restaurant location
It's Italy! Restaurant and "Pizzerie" are everywhere. A full 'pizza meal' in Milan (pizza + started/dessert + drink) could cost around 15-20 EUR (30-35 in very nice places). Pizza is perfect for everyone (vegetarian/vegan), cheap, fast and funny (and it's the 'original one'...)

Also traditional Italian restaurant are everywhere...

Some exmaples:
 * Finger's
 * Ristorante Alice
 * Trattoria 18-28
 * Le Vent Du Nord
 * Ristorante Osso Macelleria
 * Ristorante Gianat
 * [...]

FUDpub Option
It's still Italy. Easy to find place to drink and have fun! :-). Few suggestions for the FUDPub.


 * Bowling Corvetto:Via Marco d'Agrate, 23
 * Carmen Biliardi (pub with pools): Via Tertulliano, n. 70 Milano
 * Mahones Irish Pub
 * Tortuga
 * Kapuziner Platz

Deadlines for event reservation, etc
The only real deadline is the formal booking request for the University. It has to be approved by the board that meets only once a month. So 'April' will be the deadline if we want to organize the event for June, 'May' for July and so on.

Pros

 * International location. Easy and cheap connections from Europe and USA
 * Strong Presence of Italian Fedora contributors
 * Support (economic and logistic) from sponsors
 * Good relationship with the local Red Hat Marketing Manager (Milan Office). Can be useful for shipments etc
 * Weather is nice in Spring/Summer/Autumn (dry and warm. Boiling sometimes...)
 * Reachable by bus from the Brno Red Hat Office
 * Milan is a nice city but not a 'touristic city' (perfect for events and conventions)
 * City is very walkable and everything is accessible with public transports
 * Euro is the default currency
 * Lovely food
 * Ryanair flight from Brno to Milan Bergamo (= Brno office is also just round the corner)

Cons

 * Not many locals speak English
 * Night life is usually expensive (a lot of locals and bar won't allow people with a t-shirt), but university/students districts are affordable.
 * Bureaucracy is unpredictable in Italy