Some photos and curiosities

Welcome to IEEE WoWMoM 2026! We share some photos of the venue in San Giovanni in Monte complex, located in the heart of Bologna, Italy.

Some photos

These are some of the photos of some of the Workshops rooms and main conference venue. If you have taken photos which you want to share (at least the most significant ones) please contact the program co-chair Luciano Bononi (luciano.bononi@unibo.it). Enjoy!

The San Giovanni in Monte Cloister (first established in 1286 a.d. and modified as you see here in 1543 a.d.:

The main conference room. The painting on the back of the screen shows a Fresco from Bartolomeo Cesi (realized in 1610) inspired by the Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matthew 22:1-14). Most probably the face of the artist is self-portrait in the rightmost person in the fresco, the only one looking directly in your direction. The parable is used by Jesus in the Biblic text to illustrate the Kingdom of Heaven. The history says that a King has sent his servants to call all the noble families to attend the banquet. All the families refused with justifications including business, urgent and important things to do, etc. The King was very upset and decided to send the armies to destroy the cities of the noble families. Then the King provided an open invitation to all the people the servant would have found on the streets, whatever kind of people. In this way the wedding hall is filled up with guests. However, when the King enters in the hall, He sees a man without proper wedding clothes. The man has no excuses for that. The King decides to cast him out into the darkness (the painting shows the man on the floor with servants pulling him out of the banquet) while all the other guests are having their rich banquet. Jesus concludes: 'The many are called, but few are chosen' by intending that all the people must be ready and prepared at anytime for the call in the Kingdom of Heaven (the clothes represent a life filled with love, humility and good deeds). The first guests invited (the noble families) are intended as the people who rejected the God and the Prophets. The new guests are intended as the whole humanity. It is worth noting this conference room was the Banquet room of the whole complex called San Giovanni in Monte. Some people thinks the building in the background of the Fresco is the internal Cloister of San Giovanni in Monte (see the first photo). However, the background building is the Palazzo Poggi building which is the historic site of the University of Bologna (main administration and Rectorate). See a comparison image of the internal cloister of Palazzo Poggi here. One image of the full fresco is provided on the Web by this link (3rd image in the order, credits guidobarbi.it).

The badge and welcome desk:

One of the historical workshops' rooms (dated middle 1500):

One of the historical workshops' rooms (dated middle 1500):

The main Conference room during the WOWMOM 2026 presentations :

The main Conference room during the WOWMOM 2026 presentations :

Some speakers of the WOWMOM 2026 papers during their presentations :

Some speakers of the WOWMOM 2026 papers during their presentations :

Some speakers of the WOWMOM 2026 papers during their presentations :

Some speakers of the WOWMOM 2026 papers during their presentations :

Some speakers of the WOWMOM 2026 papers during their presentations :

After the last session on Thu June 18, the Program Co-Chair has made a guided tour in the historical center of the city of Bologna, by illustrating some of the historical events which show testifying evidences in the city, facts, architectures (including the more than 100 towers, each one representing a challenge to realize the highest one, as the status symbol and demonstration of power of each one of the noble and wealthy families of Bologna in the Middle Age, the fights and disputes (typically between noble families and the Catholic Church power incarnated by Popes and culminating in the dispute about the size and completion of the main Bologna's San Petronio Cathedral. The Cathedral is incomplete in the facade because the Pope decided to withdraw the money budgeted for that. The city decided to keep it incomplete (but if you believe this was a defeat and a loss for the City, please have a look here (credits https://www.torridibologna.it/la-facciata-incompiuta-di-san-petronio/). Also for this reason, the city decided to embrace the Copernicus model of the Solar System by providing, with the help of University (astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini in 1655) the World's bigger Meridian which is visible as a 66,8 meters (intended as 1/600.000 of the Earth circumference) long golden line in the left side of the Cathedral (Here you can see how it works, and also you can see the hole where the Sun light enters and the golden line in this video at 1.35 - 1.52 (credits: https://www.basilicadisanpetronio.org/la-basilica/)). The visit continued to the main Piazza Maggiore (where all the nights are animated by the open movie theather under the stars, freely showing restaured movies to the tourists and residents), the Municipality building, The Palazzo Re Enzo (with the unexplainable audio effect of the voice transmission between the opposite corners of the internal porch), the Neptune Fountain realized by Giambologna in 1566 in honour of the Pope Pio IV. The statue of Neptune governing the seas is honouring the Pope who is the representative of God in Earth governing the Catholic seas of souls, and the Neptune also controls the cathedral by extending his left hand to indicate the cathedral and to calm down the sea. The anecdote reveals that the Pope recommended the artist to make some changes in the planned statue, including a reduction of proportions of the sexual attributes. This request was considered a kind of censorship of the artist will and capacity, so the artist was very disappointed and reacted in a very subtle and refined way. He studied a perspective construction of the statue in a way that if you look at the Neptune from the back side towards the Cathedral, the left hand calming down the seas appears like what you can imagine, in generous proportions, and originally providing a gush of water addressed towars the Cathedral. A vendicative artist, indeed. However, today the black corner stone where you can appreciate this perspective is still one of the most crowded and photographed perspectives of the Neptune Fountain. We decided to make a photo in the front of the Neptune to be more politically correct :-)

Walking toward the Two main central towers in Bologna, the Garisenda which is the truncated leaning one in the left, and the Asinelli which is the highest one still in the original shape and size (97 meters high, realized in 10 years between 1109-1119, when the University of Bologna was only 21 years old, and when the skyline of Bologna, with more than 100 towers, seen from the hills, was probably looking at the eyes of visitors like the modern Manhattan to our eyes). The Asinelli tower can be visited, but you have to climb 498 steps. No elevator available. Good luck.

A photo of the ceiling (still made in the original wood) of the porch of Isolani Palace (Isolani was one of the wealthy families in Bologna buying this building in 1671, while the building is originally built in the 15th century) seen from the ancient-preserved building side. The Isolani palace was the place where we had the Dinner Banquet after the guided visit, so this is the end of the visit. The curiosity of this photo is given by the fact that three arrows shot with a bow are still visible planted in the wood. Many legends are provided to explain the presence of arrows. One of those more credible is the attempt to make a robbery some centuries ago in the ancient tavern which was created under the porch. To scare the innkeeper and get the doors opened the bandits threw the three arrows on the ceiling, which still are there.

The conclusion of the WOWMOM 2026 papers sessions. The heroes resisting up to the very end! :

The conclusion of the WOWMOM 2026 papers sessions. The heroes resisting up to the very end! :

The conclusion of the WOWMOM 2026 papers sessions. The heroes resisting up to the very end! :

We hope that you have enjoyed the Workshops, Conference and events!