LAST UPDATE: July 7, 2003.

LOCATION

DISC 2003 will be held at the Sorrento Palace Hotel (Hilton), in Sorrento. Below you wil find information about Sorrento, how to get there, hotels, and more.

Sorrento
A splendid and famous holiday resort, Sorrento stands on a terrace rising steeply above the sea on one of the most spectacular points of the Amalfi coast. Because of its enchanting position and mild climate, sheltered by the surrounding hills, Sorrento has been a favorite resort since Romans times (Agrippa, Augustus and Antonius all had villas here), and it became an elite tourist resort from the eighteenth century, its hotels welcoming such luminaries as Ibsen, Wagner and Nietzche. The high position above the sea and the consequent absence of a true sea promenade create its extremely original nature. In fact, the port, the Marina Grande and Marina Piccola, picturesque bays with a beach and the harbour, are reached by steps and narrow alleys, which offer panoramic views of incomparable beauty of the coast, the surrounding hills covered in olive-groves and citrus fruit trees, and the crystal-clear sea. Linked to the enchanting beauty of the place is the tradition whereby the name of Sorrento originates from the mythical mermaids whose soft singing tempted Ulysses and his crew in the Odyssey. The site on which the town stands, probably founded by the Greek colonies, was already inhabited in prehistoric times. The only part of the old Greek town still remaining is the defensive wall located under the road at the Porta Parsano Nuova (new Parsano Gate) and can be viewed through a grid. Another small ruin of the Greek wall is located at Marina Grande. The Roman town was built over the Greek one following the same urban plain with walls of large isodomic blocks. These walls stood to defend Sorrento through the Middle Ages. Rebuilding began in 1551 and was only completed in 1561 after the tragic Turkish invasion.

The following maps show you the position of Sorrento with respect to places Like Naples, Amalfi, Positano, Pompei and the islands of Capri and Ischia. Click the maps to get a bigger image.


How to get to Sorrento
Easiest way
Fly to Naples airport and take a direct bus from the airport to Sorrento. Naples Capodichino is the closest airport, located at about 50Km from Sorrento. It is connected to Paris, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Bruxelles, Nice, Zurich and most italian cities (including, of course, Milan and Rome).
From Naples airport there is a direct bus operated by Curreri. There are 6 runs per day leaving the airport at 9:00am, 11:30am, 1:00pm 2:30pm 4:.30pm 7.00pm. The ride takes about one hour. The bus station is right in front of the Airport exit (look for the Curreri Lines sign). To get back to the airport there are 6 daily runs leaving Sorrento at 6:45am, 8:30am, 10:30am, 12:00am, 2:00pm, 4:30pm. For more info about the Curreri Lines look at their website www.curreriviaggi.it (the bus timetable is in the Travel Agency page).

Alternatives
Other ways to reach Sorrento from the Naples airport are by bus+train and by bus+hydrofoil (of course you can also take a taxi or rent a car).
CIRCUMVESUVIANA connects Sorrento and Naples with trains every half hour. Timetable is available at www.vesuviana.it. Trains leave from the CIRCUMVESUVIANA train station co-located with the Central Railway Station in Piazza Garibaldi. Regular buses (n. 14 and 15) connect the airport to the Central Railway Station “Piazza Garibaldi”. Info and maps available at www.anm.it
ALILAURO connects Sorrento and Naples with hydrofoils. Timetable is available at www.alilauro.it. Hydrofoils leave from the "molo (pier) Beverello". The molo Beverello is reachable through buses from the airport (info and maps available at www.anm.it).

From Rome
If you plan to fly to Rome and not to Naples, you can take reach Naples by train. From Rome Fiumicino there is a shuttle train from inside the airport that brings you to the Roma Termini central railway station. From Roma Termini you can take a train the Naples Central Station (Piazza Garibaldi) and from there get to Sorrento with the CIRCUMVESUVIANA (see above). The train timetable can be consulted at www.fs-on-line.it (Enter "Fiumicino Aeroporto" for the Rome airport, "Roma Termini" for Rome Central Station and "Napoli Centrale" for the Naples train station)

By car
The town of Sorrento is situated at 26Km from the highway A3 Napoli-Salerno, with exit at the tollgate of Castellammare di Stabia and proceeding on the roadway S.S. 145 Sorrentina.

More info
If you need additional information or assistance in planning your trip to DISC 2003, please contact the DISC 2003 local organizing committee at disc03@dia.unisa.it

Hotels

DISC 2003 will be held at the Sorrento Palace Hotel, an Hilton hotel. The Sorrento Palace Hotel is a 4-star hotel, just a walk from the bustling and historical downtown of Sorrento. The hotel overlooks the Gulf of Naples and has comfortable rooms, conference facilities and superb restaurants. A picture of the hotel is shown on the right (click it for a bigger one).
There are plenty of hotels in Sorrento, ranging from 1 to 5 stars. Here is a map that shows the location of some of them, labelled with numbers in red circles (The Hilton Sorrento Palace is number 26 on the bottom of the map). Here is a list of the hotels with telephone numbers (the hotel cardinal numbers refer to those on the map).
We have reserved rooms at the venue of DISC 2003. We are looking for alternatives. Here is a table summarizing the cost of the hotels (indicative).

Hotels for DISC 2003
Hotel Stars Single Room Double Room Distance from DISC Telephone Fax Rooms reserved Map number Other info
Sorrento Palace 4 170 Euro 220 Euro DISC venue +39-081-8784141 +39-081-8783933 40 rooms, option expires 15/07 26 website
Hotel Villa Maria 3 130 Euro 150 Euro 200 mt +39-081-8781966 +39-081-8071127 15 rooms, option expires 15/07 58 -
Hotel Del Corso 2 N/A 105 Euro 15-minute walk +39-081-8071016 +39-081-8073157 10 rooms, option expires 15/07 72 website
Hotel Astoria 2 50 Euro 85 Euro 15-minute walk +39-081-8074030 +39-081-8771124 5 double rooms, 1 single room 71 mailto

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