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November 27-29, 2025
VIU Campus, San Servolo Island, Venice

Established in 1995 by five pioneering universities, VIU has grown into a vibrant network that encompasses more than twenty higher education and research institutions on four continents.

Jointly developing educational programs at all levels, exploring innovative topics, exchanging interdisciplinary and intercultural knowledge and experience remain at the heart of what makes VIU a unique institution.

VIU’s 30th Anniversary marks an important milestone, celebrating its founding vision of raising global awareness and shared consciousness around the principles of constructive dialogue, mutual understanding, and purposeful collaboration, which remain essential in a world torn by conflict.

The 30th Anniversary also serves as a shared moment of reflection on the pressing issues our societies face today, from rapid technological change to persistent inequalities and sustainability concerns. Together, we aim to explore the educational models, tools, and approaches that can help us overcome/address these challenges and shape the responsible leaders and engaged citizens of tomorrow.

On November 27-29, VIU will host a program of academic discussions, institutional meetings and celebratory gatherings open to the VIU community, the city of Venice and to all students, researchers, professors and citizens who wish to take part in this shared celebration.

Guiding Transitions International Conference

Thursday afternoon, November 27
Friday morning, November 28

Human history has always alternated between slow, steady progress and sudden leaps marked by paradigm shifts and rapid transformations, that have redefined entire civilizations. Wars, epidemics, discoveries, and innovations have sparked rapid transformations in culture, knowledge, and society.

VIU’s international conference Guiding Transitions opens a forum for reflection and case-based analysis, exploring how Higher Education Institutions can equip students with the skills and competencies to navigate these changes. Sessions will focus on four key areas: Higher Education and AI, Structural Inequalities, Ecology and Environment, and Cities in Transition.

The conference is open to scholars, higher education experts and practitioners both from member institutions of Venice International University and beyond, encouraging a collaborative exploration of today’s most pressing transitions. 

Tickets for the Alumni & Friends of VIU Dinner on Thursday, November 27 are complimentary for conference attendees. 

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Alumni & Friends of VIU Dinner

with music performed by UNIPD Big Band, the Jazz Orchestra of the University of Padova

Thursday, November 27, 2025, 19.30

VIU alumni and friends are invited to an evening of reunion, conversation, and networking. Attendees will have the opportunity to reconnect, share memories, and enjoy live music performed by the University of Padova Big Band.

Tickets are €25.00 per person
Tickets for current VIU students - Fall 2025 are €10.00 per student (at Front Office only)
Conference participants should reserve their tickets via the conference registration form. 

Booking now open

Navigating the Venice Archipelago. Lagoon Stories for Sustainable Futures

Friday, November 28, 2025, 13.00    

An interactive multimedia exhibit developed by Venice International University in collaboration with the University of Padua, and exhibited in the Italian Pavilion at Osaka Expo 2025 and part of the Intelligent Venice Exhibition, a special project of the Venice Sustainability Foundation at the Architecture Biennale in 2025.

Conversations on Energy, Environment and the Sea

Friday, November 28, 2025, 14.30  

Venice International University, San Servolo Island   [in Italian with English translation]

Prof. Dott. Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Italian Minister for the Environment and Energy Security
Prof. David Burigana, University of Padua

Sen.  Nello Musumeci, Italian Minister for Civil Protection and Marine Policies
Prof. Andrea Rinaldo, President, Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts
Prof. Fabrizio Marrella, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Moderated by Ambassador Umberto Vattani, VIU President

Special Concert of the Choir of the Cardinal Bartolucci Foundation

Friday, November 28, 2025, 21.00
Church of San Salvador, Venice

In 2004, the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation created its own polyphonic choir to promote the classical and contemporary sacred repertoire of the Roman School—particularly the works of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Domenico Bartolucci, but also those of the most renowned composers of sacred music from the Renaissance to the present day

Free entrance. Registration not required
Download the flyer

The Third Paradise by Michelangelo Pistoletto: 20th Anniversary

Saturday, November 29, 2025 
VIU, San Servolo Island

Registration not required
Download the flyer

In 2004, the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation created its own polyphonic choir to promote the classical and contemporary sacred repertoire of the Roman School—particularly the works of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Domenico Bartolucci, but also those of the most renowned composers of sacred music from the Renaissance to the present day

11.00     Project conceived by Ambassador Umberto Vattani

12.00     Presentation of the book “From the Third Paradise to the Formula of Creation”

Presentation of the book “From The Third Paradise to the Formula of Creation”
Published by Treccani

Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Artist, Creator of the Third Paradise
Antonio Spadaro, Undersecretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education
Paolo Naldini, Director of Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto
Francesco Monico, Head of the Spirituality Office at Cittadellarte
Saverio Teruzzi, Coordinator of the Third Paradise – Rebirth Embassies 

Laura Salas Redondo, Curator and Founder of the Third Paradise – Rebirth Embassies 

Moderated by Fortunato D’Amico, Editorial Coordination

12.15  TRIKÂLA: “Towards the Tuning of the Third Paradise”

Sound composition by Nicola Cisternino
Artistic workshop curated by Stefania Guerra Lisi
Environmental project conceived by Giovanni Leone

In collaboration with the Guggenheim Art High School and the Marco Polo Music High School of Venice.

12.50  Unveiling of the Commemorative Plaque of the Third Paradise

Sculpture Park of San Servolo

30th Anniversary Gala Dinner

Saturday, November 29, 2025 - by invitation only 

• Reception with the Mayor of Venice, Arch. Luigi Brugnaro

• Institutional Welcome Address, Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia
  Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

• Thirty Years of VIU and the Extraordinary Venetian Renaissance

  Prof. Renato Brunetta, Venice Sustainability Foundation and the Italian National Council for Economics and Labour

• Special Anniversary Concert by Maestro Filippo Gorini, Piano
  music by Johannes Brahms and Franz Schubert

• Thirtieth Anniversary Gala Dinner 

Venice International University is a global consortium of universities and research institutions dedicated to advancing international, interdisciplinary, and intercultural learning, teaching, and research cooperation.

Thirty years ago, the founding members imagined that a small island in the heart of the Venetian Lagoon could become a global crossroads for ideas, dialogue, and transformation. With foresight, they envisioned San Servolo as the home of a university consortium where the world's greatest challenges could be explored beyond borders, beyond disciplines, and beyond convention.

What began with five pioneering institutions has grown into a dynamic network of twenty universities and research institutions from across the globe. Today, students, faculty, and researchers from every continent come together at VIU, forming a vibrant international community that lives and learns at the intersection of cultures, perspectives, and fields of knowledge. 

VIU is a meeting point of minds. A place where boundaries dissolve, where disciplines converse, and where curiosity drives collaboration. Programs are shaped to cross frontiers, linking the sciences and humanities, technology and society, theory and action.

Everything here is collaborative, interdisciplinary, and open to bold experimentation. Funded and guided by its member institutions, VIU is a collective platform that is agile, inclusive, and constantly evolving.

At its heart lies a clear and urgent mission: to empower new generations with the knowledge, imagination, and responsibility needed to face the environmental, social, cultural, and technological challenges of our time, and those yet to come.

Venice, with its fragile beauty and enduring legacy, is more than a setting: it is a source of insight and inspiration. On this island, the past speaks, the present demands attention, and the future becomes a space for bold imagination.

Where Ideas Meet the World

At VIU, academic programs are designed collectively by its members, focusing on themes that matter globally and resonate locally in Venice and its lagoon.

Study and research are not confined to the classroom. Learning here is active, interdisciplinary, and always connected to the real world.

The Globalization Program is the core of VIU’s academic life. Courses explore urgent questions of sustainability: climate change, biodiversity, environmental management, restoration, policy, ethics, economics, law. They engage with cultural heritage, addressing fragile urban centers and the power of culture to drive development. They examine the intersections of science and society, global change, migration, technology, and urban transformation. The environmental humanities, history and memory studies, and cultural studies offer distinctive perspectives on how societies remember, imagine, and act.

Faculty from member universities bring their expertise, while students from across the world contribute their own cultures and perspectives. The result is a dynamic, challenging, and inspiring classroom, where ideas are tested, assumptions are questioned, and curiosity is rewarded. Students join for a semester, a year, or a summer session, earning credits while gaining something far greater: the ability to think across borders and to grow into leaders ready for an interconnected world.

Next Generation of Researchers

VIU’s Intensive Graduate Activities are designed for the next generation of researchers. They encourage boldness: tackling transversal topics that no single discipline can solve. They foster collaboration across cultures, institutions, and fields.

Three formats carry this vision forward:

• PhD Academies – advanced doctoral training to build transversal skills and foster cooperation.
• Graduate Seminars – launching early PhD students into research with guidance and peer exchange.
• Summer Schools – intensive programs presenting cutting-edge research in a given field.

Each initiative is collaborative by design, involving scholars from at least three member institutions and different disciplines. The outcome is not just academic training, but the creation of lasting global networks and innovative approaches to research.

Research with Reach

Research at VIU builds on this spirit of collaboration. The Thinking Global Resilience Research Networks connect scholars across borders to share ideas, organize workshops and webinars, develop joint projects, and publish together. Their focus areas include:

• Cities and Global Change
• Global Resilience and Just Energy Transition
• Global and Environmental Humanities
• Education for Sustainability

Complementing these are VIU’s Science Communication initiatives. A dedicated unit supports researchers, communications officers, and decision-makers, ensuring that knowledge is shared across disciplines and beyond academia. Training, workshops, and direct contributions to projects make scientific communication part of the research process itself.

Focused research groups and projects further explore ageing societies, republics and republicanism, cultural heritage management, and the future of transport and logistics.

Venice and San Servolo Island

The VIU campus, on San Servolo Island, offers more than classrooms. Its gardens, courtyards, and island setting create a unique residential community, a place in which learning and reflection flow naturally. Venice itself becomes a living laboratory: fragile, complex, and inspiring. Students and faculty engage directly with the city’s challenges of heritage, sustainability, and resilience.

Local partnerships enrich programs with guest lectures, field visits, internships, and public events. In this way, VIU is not only in Venice but of Venice, part of its cultural life, contributing knowledge, creativity, and dialogue.

A Global Community

Twenty-three universities and research institutions form the VIU network today. What unites them is the conviction that the challenges of our time - environmental, social, technological, cultural - cannot be faced in isolation. They must be addressed together, across disciplines, across cultures, across generations.

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Venice International University was founded on December 15, 1995 and is a legally recognized association operating under Italian private law. Its status as a non-profit association carries full patrimonial autonomy.

The Italian Ministry for University Education and Scientific and Technological Research formally recognizes the Venice International University association as an international centre of higher education and research (by Ministerial Decree on 23 October 1997).

The Silent Echoes of a Great Sound Sculpture
(The Campanone of St. Peter’s Basilica)

curated by: Umberto Vattani and Valentino Catricalà
with the support of: Enel, Gruppo FS Italiane, and Meyer Sound

from February 16, 2025 - 8 pm to 10 pm

As part of the 2025 Jubilee - Basilica of St. Peter - Vatican City, Rome

Gli echi muti di una grande scultura sonora
(Il Campanone della Basilica San Pietro)

a cura di: Umberto Vattani e Valentino Catricalà
con il sostegno di: Enel, Gruppo FS Italiane e Meyer Sound

dal 16 Febbraio 2025 - dalle ore 20.00 alle 22.00

nell’ambito del Giubileo 2025 - Basilica di San Pietro - Città del Vaticano, Roma

The island of San Servolo is located in the Venetian lagoon, between Venice city center and the island of Lido. It takes 10 minutes by boat to reach Piazza San Marco, the heart of Venice.

The island was originally the home of the Venetian Calbana family who, beginning in 810, hosted the seat of a Benedictine Monastery. The buildings of the island have been developed and changed over the ages along with the people who inhabited it. San Servolo remained a monastery until the mid-eighteenth century when it was transformed into a Hospital. The island overlooks the tranquil waters of the lagoon, and covers an area of over sixteen-thousand square meters that were once used for vineyards and gardens.

The restoration work of the monumental complex on the Island of San Servolo began after the hospital's closure and has preserved the architectural qualities and natural landscape of the setting. The island of San Servolo is now open to the public.

Public Transport from City Center to Venice International University

Venice International University is on the Island of San Servolo, 10 minutes by boat from Piazza San Marco.

Vaporetto no. 20 (public transport) connects the island with the city center. It departs from landing dock B at San Zaccaria, the waterfront adjacent to Piazza San Marco. Landing dock B is opposite the Londra Palace Hotel.

Download No. 20 Timetable*

*valid from September 8, 2024

Vaporetto no. 10 from Zattere runs two services at 8.14 and 8.34 am stopping at San Servolo upon request (see line 10 timetable).

ACTV public transport company website for updates and variations and consult current timetables for other routes.

CheBateo is a useful app to plan your route on public transport in Venice (available for iOS and Android).

From Piazzale Roma
Take either Line n°4.1 or n°5.1 and get off at the San Zaccaria boat stop.
At San Zaccaria, change to Line n°20, which leaves from the "San Zaccaria - Monumento" boat stop.

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From the train station
Take either Line n°4.1 or n°5.1 and get off at the San Zaccaria boat stop. 
At San Zaccaria, change to Line n°20, which leaves from the "San Zaccaria - Monumento" boat stop.

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Transport from Marco Polo airport

• Water (direct) and land Taxis (via Piazzale Roma)
  You can take a private water taxi directly to your final destination (which is an expensive choice, from the airport to San Servolo it costs about €130.00). Alternatively, you can take a land taxi to Piazzale Roma, and then follow directions from Piazzale Roma.
• Alilaguna waterbus service (via city center)
  This company offers a service that goes from the airport to Murano, the Lido, the Arsenale with a final stop at San Marco.
  Tickets cost €18 (€32 return) and can be purchased in the arrival hall of the airport, directly on board, or online. The service runs from 6 am until midnight.
  For timetables and further information visit Alilaguna (www.alilaguna.it)
  Then follow directions from the city center.
• ATVO buses (via Piazzale Roma)
  These blue and yellow shuttle buses run from the airport to Piazzale Roma and they leave from in front of the entrance of the departure hall. Tickets cost €10 one way, €18 return. Automatic ticket machines can be found in the baggage hall, in the arrivals hall, and outside the airport. The service runs from 4.20 am to 1.20 am and takes about 20 minutes to reach Venice. For timetables and further information visit ATVO.
  Then follow directions from Piazzale Roma.
  
  
• ACTV Public bus n°5 (via Piazzale Roma)
  Bus line n°5 runs every half hour. The last stop is "Piazzale Roma". Tickets cost €10 (€18 return) and can be purchased at the ACTV stand in the arrival hall. The service takes about 25 minutes to reach Venice. 
  For timetables and further information visit ACTV.
  Then follow directions from Piazzale Roma.

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Transport from Treviso airport

ATVO buses (via Piazzale Roma). Automatic ticket machines can be found in the baggage hall, in the arrivals hall, or buy your ticket on board. The service runs from 7.45 am to 10.30 pm and takes about 50 minutes to reach Venice. For timetables and further information visit ATVO. €12 one way, €22 return.
Then follow directions from Piazzale Roma.
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Tickets for public transport in the city (vaporetto)

A one-way ticket valid for 75 minutes on the entire boat public service network of routes costs €9.50.
A good option is to buy a 24hr, 48hr or weekly ticket based on the length of your stay.

Prices
24 hr - €25.00
48 hr - €35.00
72 hr - €45.00
7 days - €65.00

You can buy tickets at the ticket offices, vending machines or via the AVM Venezia Official App (available for iOS and Android). Besides the trip planner, the app can be used to buy tickets and store them on your smartphone until needed. 

Students and professors staying for a semester should get a monthly pass - the Venezia Unica Card (please read below). This pass will allow you to use the boat public service (all routes) and the bus service on Lido Island and Mestre.

You can plan your route on public transport in Venice and consult the timetables using the app CheBateo (available for iOS and Android).

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Venezia Unica Card

At the Piazzale Roma or Rialto ticket offices you can purchase your Venezia Unica City Pass. This card entitles holders to buy monthly and annual passes and single tickets at discounted rates.

Prices for Venezia Unica Card:
€ 10.00 for Venice residents
€ 20.00 for students under 26
€ 40.00 for residents in the Veneto region
€ 100.00 for all the other visitors

Monthly pass with Venezia Unica Card (valid on all vaporetto lines, Mestre buses and Lido buses, except to/from the airport):
€25.00 for students 
€37.00 for adults 

Single ticket with Venezia Unica Card: €1.50

For further information visit actv.avmspa.it/en/content/mobility-services 

You can also use the AVM Venezia Official App (available for iOS and Android) to buy your Venezia Unica Card tickets. Consider however that although your account on the app will be associated with your Venezia Unica Card the tickets purchased via the app will not be available on your card. ie. if you purchase tickets with your phone you will have to use your phone to validate them on the ticket validation machines.

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Arriving by car

If you bring a car to Venice, you will have to pay for a garage or parking space during your stay.
The last points in Venice where you can leave your car are "Piazzale Roma" and "Tronchetto".

Parking at "Piazzale Roma" in the Municipal Garage costs €24.00-29.00 for 24 hours, in the private Garage San Marco (next door) it costs €30.00 for 24 hours.

To reach the Tronchetto parking area, as you come into Venice, follow the signs and turn right before "Piazzale Roma". Parking here costs €21.00 for 24 hours.
(Do not leave valuables in the car. There is a luggage deposit office, open daily 8 a.m. - 8 p.m., next to the Pullman Bar on the ground floor of the Municipal Garage at "Piazzale Roma"). You can reach Piazzale Roma from Tronchetto by the new People Mover.

Another solution is to park your car in front of the train station in Mestre. Parking in Mestre costs much less (around € 5.00 - € 9.00 per day), and there are frequent trains and buses between Mestre and Venice Piazzale Roma.
Then follow the directions from Piazzale Roma and from the train station to San Servolo.