The Monte Verità Seminar Centre is beautifully located on a hill above Ascona, in the Southern part of Switzerland. From about 1870, the Locarno region became a centre of concentrated cultural and artistic development for several decades. A large number of intellectuals gathered together in Locarno, Ascona and Minusio, seeking refuge from the industrial culture dominating Northern Europe. Among those who spent time in the area were Carl Gustav Jung, Paul Klee, Hermann Hesse, as well as Isadora Duncan and James Joyce.
Monte Verità, "the Mountain of Truth", was founded at the beginning of the 20th century by a group of idealists, whose wish was the return to a natural way of life. In the early decades of the 20th century numerous artists, intellectuals and students made Monte Verità their cultural centre.

Today's Centro Stefano Franscini at Monte Verità was created with the aim of organising cultural and scientific meetings in order to contribute to the development of academic policy in the Canton Ticino and the dissemination of knowledge in general. This continues Monte Verità's traditional historic role in a centre for the concentration and spread of culture. In 1989, a private foundation was established whose members comprise the Canton Ticino, the Town Council of Ascona and the ETH, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. It aims at encouraging international cultural activities on an academic level through seminars and conventions on a large diversity of scientific topics.
The main buildings include a hotel, a restaurant, two lecture halls, various seminar rooms and a computer room. The surroundings of the centre offer excellent opportunities for woodland walks, jogging (Vita Parcours), a park with a tennis court (CHF 10.-- per hour) and a museum about the history of the location.

Ascona is often called the "Pearl of Lake Maggiore" for its cultural heritage as well as for its touristic offer. It is situated near the delta of the Maggia river, on the shores of a splendid and sunny bay. This unique position, together with a wide variety of landscapes, its mediterranean climate, its touristic tradition and the well known hospitality of the Ticinese people, make Ascona a famous holiday resort. Ascona’s artistic and cultural heritage, dating from the middle ages and the renaissance, is still very much alive in the old centre of the little town, called "borgo". Many artists who lived in Ascona from the sixteenth century onwards left behind clear evidence of their talent, the most famous of their works being the baroque "Casa Serodine".

Ascona, with a population of about 4500, developed around its historical centre and offers a wide choice of exclusive shops, boutiques, museums, art galleries and antique shops. There’s a large pedestrian zone - traffic free - in its historical centre and the Piazza, a splendid boardwalk along the Lake with a magical view of the natural bay. For additional information, check the webpage of the Lago Maggiore region.