The founder of Eataly, Oscar Farinetti, recently illustrated the F.I.Co-Eataly World Bologna, i.e. the Fabbrica Italiana Contadina (Italian Farmer Factory) project being developed in the area currently occupied by the Bologna vegetable market. Defining the project as “an agro-food Disney World”, the first theme park to present agro-food excellence and food and wine beauty to the world. “It will be an opportunity to get to know Italian products from the field to the consumer.”
Covering an area of 80 thousand square metres, it will in fact host demonstration crops (wheat, vegetable gardens, orchards, vineyards, olive, chestnut, almond and hazelnut trees, truffle beds, bee-keeping and flower meadows), 5 educational breeding farms (dairy and beef cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, horses, farmyard animals and two fish supply chain aquariums), craft production workshops, classrooms, shops and sales areas, in addition to 20 restaurants, creating a unique place of Italian agro-food excellence information and dissemination.
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There are also 44 laboratories representing various food supply chains: animal (ham curing, mortadella, salami, meat, fish and eggs), dairy (mozzarella, parmesan, grana, other cheeses, raw milk and yoghurt), cereal derivatives (flour mill, egg pasta, fresh pasta, Gragnano pasta, bread and focaccia bakery, rice packaging), fruit and vegetables (sauces and preserves, vegetables and tinned produce, minimally processed vegetables, truffles, spices), beverages (wine cellar, brewery and distillery) and other sectors (oil mill, vinegar and balsamic vinegar distillery, chocolate, ice cream, biscuits, honey, coffee, pralines, confectionery).
The goal of Fico is to attract 5.8 million Italian and foreign visitors, as well as 500,000 Italian students every year, to the largest educational farm project ever imagined.
By December the final layout will be defined, by February 2015 the new municipal market will be completed, while the project as a whole will see the light in conjunction with the conclusion of Expo Milano.
Participating in the project, in addition to Eataly, are Caab (Bologna Agro-food Centre), the City of Food Bologna and Prelios Sgr, the company managing the fund and in charge of project development.
