A rendering of FICO Eataly World

Eataly is opening a theme park!

FICO Eataly World will take Italian food fanatics on a culinary roller coaster ride all in one ambitious new venue

Our new book Eataly: Contemporary Italian Cooking shows you how to cook Italian food, though not as mama used to make it. The 512-page book, created in collaboration with the international Italian food retailer Eataly, demonstrates how sophisticated today’s Italian food has become.

Next year Eataly hopes to offer a more holistic demonstration, when it opens its own theme park. FICO Eataly World in Bologna will cover 20 acres, host 25 restaurants, 40 shops and hopes to entertain six million visitors annually. And this won’t simply be a flashy café and food market.

 

A rendering of FICO Eataly World
A rendering of FICO Eataly World

FICO – a contraction of F(abbrica) I(taliana) Co(ntadina) or Italian Farming Factory – “aims at becoming the reference venue for the dissemination of knowledge on Italian food and wines, the meeting place for all those who love food and wish to discover its secrets and traditions, on the lookout for information and unique experiences.”

There will be stalls piled high with DOP Emilia Romagna produce, yet there will also be demonstration farms with everything from apple and almond trees through to rare breeds of cows and chickens.

Workshops will show visitors how to make pasta, wine and preserved meats, as well as more industrialised processes, such as the milling of grains.

 

A rendering of FICO Eataly World
A rendering of FICO Eataly World

And if that all sounds a little too spread out for one lunchtime visit, Eataly has teamed up with fellow Italian success story, the bicycle maker Bianchi, to offer 500 adult-sized tricycles, each fitted out with a large shopping basket, allowing visitors to get from field to fork, just like their food.

 

Eataly: Contemporary Italian Cooking
Eataly: Contemporary Italian Cooking

For more on the project, due to open in autumn 2017 go here. For more on our book Eataly: Contemporary Italian Cooking, go here.