With less than two months left before the scientific and technological gathering of some of the brightest minds on the blockchain, we at @steemstem and @utopian-io have some updates for you! In this post, we have some exclusive sneak-peeks of the location where the Utopian.io team will be staying and holding an exclusive open source hackathon.
The Utopian.io team members scheduled to attend this meetup will be staying together at a villa in the town of Lucca in Italy. While the place looks like a perfect spot for a relaxing vacation, we plan to spend much of the time collaborating on innovative new features for Utopian and its community. It’s why we made sure to select accomodation with wireless internet access and laptop-friendly workspaces.
Source: Airbnb
This lovely villa is due to accommodate all 17 registered Utopian team members attending, and host the guests to join us for the hackathon only. This means at least some of the team members will be sharing beds, so we’re expecting some bring home (to you) some funny stories, crazy livestreams and awesome photos and videos.
About Lucca
Located between Pisa and Florence, Lucca is a medieval gem of history, art and culture dating back to 180 BC. Also nicknamed “the town of 100 churches”, Lucca is the home to some architectural masterpieces worthy of a visit including the Cathedral of St. Martin that also serves as an art museum, and St. Michael’s Church.
Source: jimmyweee from wikipedia CC BY 2.0
Lucca is one of the only Tuscan cities spared aerial bombings in WWII, so its archeological and historical landmarks remain untouched and well preserved. One of the most famous ones is the medieval city wall surrounding the town, 4 kilometres and 223 metres turned pedestrian promenade and cycling path, offering a scenic route around the historic town.
Though our time to tour and sightsee will be limited, Lucca can tempt us away from the keyboard with Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca (botanical garden dating from 1820) and the narrow scenic streets of this ancient Italian town at the foot of the Apuan Alps.
Source: Alessandro Vecchi from wikipedia CC BY 3.0
Another building that represents the city as an unusual one is Torre Guinigi - a tower with a garden on top! It was built when the Guinigi family sought to create a garden above the town as symbol of the town's rebirth while under their control. This popular tourist attraction might be a long climb (230 steps), but it offers a unique view of the city and its surroundings.
Lucca takes great pride in being the birthplace of the famed composer Puccini, so music lovers will be able to attend daily concerts of the local composer's music in the Church of San Giovanni. His biggest fans might even find the time to visit his old home turned museum.
About the Hackathon
As we work hard to organize and crowdfund this international operation, we’re also working on a fun, exciting and global mini-hackathon to take place during the Utopian.io gathering in Italy. Anyone can participate from anywhere in the world, and we hope you will too.
The Utopian.io mini-hackathon is scheduled to take place on one of the very few free days we will have at the villa in Lucca, when not touring Virgo and the Museum in Florence. If you happen to be in Italy in September and are interested in attending, please contact @techslut or @espoem on our Discord server.
The exact dates and times of the hackathon and more details will be revealed in future posts, so stay tuned for more updates!
Help us get there!
Many of our attendees from both @steemstem and @utopian-io are traveling from Asia and Africa to attend and contribute. The goal of this @fundition campaign is mainly to crowdfund the cost of travel from these places, including necessary visa applications and travelers’ insurance. We hope you’ll choose to help us with a small donation or an upvote because every upvote counts!
The Meetup
For more information on this meetup and our expected schedule, check @steemstem's post and @utopian's post.