Monte Verità in Ascona can host seminars and residential conferences for up to 120 guests, receptions with up to 400 guests outdoors, and weddings or gala dinners in a hillside complex with 86 beds. The Fondazione Monte Verità runs a hotel, a conference center, a restaurant and a park on one site above Lake Maggiore.
Seminars and company events
The conference center is laid out like a small campus: hotel, meeting rooms, restaurant and park sit within walking distance of each other. The site has run seminars and residential conferences for decades, and since 1989 it has housed the Stefano Franscini congress center of ETH Zurich. The official figure for a residential conference is up to 120 participants.
The Auditorium seats 120 and covers 140 square meters. It carries audiovisual equipment and simultaneous interpretation, and it was designed in 1992 by the Ascona architect Livio Vacchini. Balint Hall is the largest room in the historic buildings. The technical page lists 140 places, and another page speaks of events with up to 200 people, so confirm the layout you need. Smaller rooms handle workshops and breakouts: Pioda room and Eranos room each take about 30 around a large table, Gioia room takes 70, and Von der Heydt and Mandala rooms take 8 each.
Weddings and receptions
The foundation sells weddings, corporate gala dinners, family anniversaries and business lunches. The Luce dining room seats 120 guests. The Baron's Gallery seats 32, and the panoramic terrace holds 60. For cocktail parties and catered events outdoors, the park accommodates up to 400 guests.
In summer the swimming pool area can be used for events. It covers 153 square meters, takes about 150 people, and has a removable roof and theater infrastructure. The venue lists a free car park.
Rooms and capacities
Room hire is priced by the full day (8 am to 6 pm) or half day (up to 4 hours), and an all-in package exists that leaves out the pool area and Gioia room. The quote form on the site is the way to price a specific program. The Gioia room is a 75 square meter space and the pool area is the only room on the list with a stated floor area above 150 square meters.
Accommodation
The hotel and three houses sleep 86 guests in total. The hotel complex includes the Bauhaus Hotel, Villa Semiramis, Casa Monescia, Casa Marta and Casa Gioia. A group that fills the beds can stay on the hill, so evening sessions need no transfer.
Catering
The restaurant on site serves the Luce dining room and the terrace, and the foundation lists banqueting as part of its events offer. Catered outdoor events are described for up to 400 guests.
History and setting
Monte Verità was a vegetarian colony at the start of the twentieth century, and it became a meeting point for artists, thinkers and reformers. The Bauhaus hotel and the museum complex keep that history visible. Guests of a conference are on the same grounds as the museum houses, and the foundation lists guided tours as a separate offer.
Getting there
The site is on Strada Collina in Ascona, Ticino. The foundation publishes a page on how to reach Monte Verità, and parking is free on site.
