16th IBA Meeting 2013
FINAL REGISTRATION
15 JANUARY 2013!
Catania University Central Building
The Meeting will be hosted by the University of Catania, organised by Antonietta Rosso and her fellows and co-operators.
The pre-conference field trip will be organised by Giampiero Braga and Anna Occhipinti Ambrogi with the cooperation of Andrea Balduzzi and Silvia Cocito. Mina Taticchi will cooperate for fresh water bryozoans during the post-conference field trip.
Through its international airport, Catania is directly connected to many European cities with nonstop flights or flights including intermediate call in Rome or Milan. The airport is very close to the town and connected by bus to the centre, each 15 minutes. The use of train or car is advisable only for people interested in a tour of some Italian localities.
Pre-conference field trip (6 days):
3-8 June: Sicily and southern Calabria.
Permian to Recent bryozoans.
This field trip will leave from and return in Catania.
It will include a) 3 “palaeontological” days and a half, with visits to fossiliferous, mostly bryozoan-bearing, outcrops from Permian (Valle del Sosio) to Mesozoic (Giurassic and Cretaceous: Monti di Palermo and Hyblean plateau) to Coenozoic, mostly Pliocene and Pleistocene (Messina Strait zone, Catania area, Belice Valley) testifying from shallow infralittoral to bathyal environments; b) 2 “biological” days and a half, including dredging, diving (possibility of renting diving equipment and boat transfer on interesting sites about 25 Euro) and snorkelling in marine environments and examining collected specimens in laboratory; collecting freshwater bryozoans and statoblasts from small lakes. One additional day is planned to visit Etna’s craters and, possibly, lava flows. Some historical localities will be included in the tour.
Workshop Day
Catania, Sunday, 9th June
Meeting in Catania: 10-15 June
The Meeting will take place at the University of Catania. Accommodation will be possible in several small hotels in the historical, Baroque-styled, centre of the town, not far from the meeting hall. A mid-conference field trip is planned to the Etna Natural Park and Taormina.
Several small hotels in Catania centre-town have prices ranging from 40-50 to 70 Euro. Cheaper prices could be available for students. The distance from the most eligible lecture hall about 10 minutes by bus, 15-25 minutes by foot. Several bars are placed near the lecture hall for quick lunch. For dinner, many restaurants and pizzerias are located in the “historic Catania” with a wide range of possibilities and prices (from 10-15 Euro upward).
Post-conference field trip (6 days):
17-22 June: north-eastern Italy, Veneto.
Cenozoic and Recent bryozoans.
It will include 3 “biological” and 3 “palaeontological” days. During the first part, to be held in the Chioggia-Venice area, living benthos, including bryozoans from shallow marine and brackish waters from the Po delta system, in the northern Adriatic, will be collected and examined in the Chioggia laboratory. Visits to fishery ponds, locally called “valli da pesca”, and to the Venice lagoon are planned. In the second part, some classical localities, such as the “Pesciara di Bolca” and the Priabonian bryozoan-rich layers from Priabona, the Natural History Museum of Verona and the town of Vicenza with its beautiful buildings designed by Palladio will be visited.
Special attractions for accompanying members, during the meeting week, are located near to Catania (mostly less than 100 Km apart), most of which (Catania, Syracuse, Noto, Piazza Armerina and Ragusa Hybla) have been recognised as Human Heritage by the UNESCO.
-The Catania historical centre with its Greek and Roman monuments, the medieval castle built by Federico II Hohenstaufen, the baroque churches and buildings, the Liberty-styled villas; the numerous museums among which the Museo dello Sbarco, commemorating the American landing in Sicily during the II World War, including sites reconstructions and historical videos.
-The wide light sandy beach immediately South (10 minutes by bus) of Catania and the volcanic raised shores, immediately north of the town for bathing and snorkelling activities. Further North (15 Km from Catania) along the coast, the “Riserva Marina Isole Ciclopi” with its exciting bottoms.
-Syracuse with its Greek, Roman and modern monuments, among which the theatre and the archaeological museum, including a geo-palaeontological section, collections of prehistoric and ancient masterpieces, potteries and Roman glassworks.
-Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe offers different attractions like several craters, historical and recent lava flows, volcanic tunnels and caves produced by old lava flows and flourishing woods. Excursions at different difficulty levels are available.
-Piazza Armerina with its Villa del Casale, an imperial Roman house including thermal baths and the gymnasium, the floors covered by fine and delicate mosaics representing daily-life activities and hunting and mythological scenes.
-Acireale, Noto, Ragusa Hybla and other towns with their baroque buildings.
-Caltagirone, with its pottery laboratories and several other attractions.
Italy and Sicily with the Etna volcano and bryozoans wait for you.....in 2013!