FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

1. What does the centre offer?

The centre provides the facilities for the organization of scientific colloquia and workshops with medium sized groups of up to 100 participants. The main building includes a hotel with 52 bedrooms, a restaurant, two lecture halls, various seminar rooms, a computer room and administrative offices. The surroundings of the centre offer excellent opportunities for woodland walks, a park with a tennis court and a museum about the history of the location.

2. To whom is the centre open?

The centre is open to all professors and scientists working at a Swiss university, institute of technology or research institute who wish to organize an international conference at a high academic level. A financial support is allocated on the basis of the scientific quality of the meeting and the application deadline is always at least one year before the conference (e.g. January 15, 2010 for a conference that will take place in 2011). For more information, click on "Organizing" on top of this site.

3. Where is the centre located?

The centre is situated in the middle of a park, on a hill above the town of Ascona called Monte Verità ("Mountain of Truth") with a wonderful view over the Lago Maggiore and the surrounding mountains.

Monte Verità was founded in 1900 and has an extremely diverse and fascinating history. It first started as a colony of vegetarians and continued as a sanatorium until 1920, attracting many anarchists, idealists, writers, philosophers and artists such as Hermann Hesse, Friederich Glauser, Carl Gustav Jung, Isadora Duncan, Rudolf von Laban and many others.

4. What is the difference between the Centro Stefano Franscini and Monte Verità?

Monte Verità is a property belonging to the Canton Ticino which is managed by a foundation called Fondazione Monte Verità. The Fondazione Monte Verità runs a congress centre which includes a hotel, a restaurant also open to the public, various conference rooms, a museum about the history of Monte Verità and a century-old park with the remains of the Sanatorium Monte Verità (1900 - 1920) and a great variety of flora.

The Centro Stefano Franscini is the congress centre of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich (ETHZ) situated at Monte Verità. It is a client of the Fondazione Monte Verità which yearly brings 20 to 25 5-day conferences to Monte Verità.
The Centro Stefano Franscini as ETHZ is also a member of the Fondazione Monte Verità administrative board.