Italy is probably best known for its food and wine. Let’s face it, Italians would probably rather you remember that they invented pizza and pasta covered in cheese than, say, totalitarianism and fascism. And their food is some of the best in the world, full stop. Eataly has been exalting Italian food and drink culture for years now. They’ve opened up markets in New York and Chicago that helps us understand and appreciate all things Italia.
Now, they’re taking it one step further and opening up a 20-acre (!) theme park outside Bologna, Italy called FICO Eataly World. It’ll be all things Italian food and drink and you need to add it to your food bucket list right f*cking now. Because it sounds and looks absolutely epic:
The park will have gardens, fields, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, fish ponds, a market, stalls that highlight all aspects of Italian cuisine and drink from literally field to the fork. That means you can milk a cow and then turn that milk into cheese right there at the park. You’ll be able to mill harvested wheat from their fields and make pasta from it. There’ll be curing stations so you can learn how to make prosciutto and taste it at all the various stages. There’ll be wine makers and beer brewers to teach their methods. Professional chefs will be on hand to give lessons to everyone from kids to grandmas. There’ll be an entire market with specially made shopping bikes so you can shop the fruit, veg, protein, and products that were made/grown onsite. And the whole place will be powered by roof tile solar panels.
Expect Disneyland to shutter its doors next week. There’s no competing with this.
If none of the above has convinced you to book a ticket to Bologna, the founders of the park proclaim that “FICO Eataly World shall be a huge and joyful place, where the wonders of the Italian agri-food industry and its food and wines shall be presented and narrated from their birth inside mother earth to their final destination on a dish and in a glass. It shall be the taste and the beauty of Italy, illustrated to all citizens of the world.”
The grounds and buildings are currently under-construction and Eataly plans to open the park September of 2017.
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(Via Bloomberg and FICO Eataly World)
