A few years ago, I read about the opening of FICO Eataly World, the biggest food park in the world, located in Bologna, and since then it’s been on my list of places to try. As Bologna is only about a 90 minute drive away from where we were staying in Padua, we made this into a day trip.
We made sure to make our visit on a weekday, as weekends are too busy with both locals and tourists. When we got there, it was kind of like a ghost town with barely any people!
Eataly World is basically made up of eateries, bars, stalls and exhibits where you can learn about how food is made in Italy. There’s also a massive outdoor section filled with farms, gardens, and various animals where you can learn about Italian vegetation, horticulture and farming techniques. After reviewing the large map of Eataly World at the entrance, we wandered through.
The FICO Eataly World website states there are:
…over 2 hectares of fields and stables, more than 200 animals, and over 2000 cultivars from all over Italy.
After all the rich foods and cured meats in Spain, it was nice to see an assortment of cured hams at Ruliano. We would come back for this later on.
We passed the mortadella bar which usually has tastings upstairs, but as it was pretty dead that day, there were only some tastings on the ground floor.
I love the decor with the pipes decorated as one long mortadella and the real ones hanging from the top.
There are windows with food demonstrations such as this woman making tortellini.
A massive production of cheese-making with the history and videos of cheese-making available for viewing.
Of course you can buy as many different types of cheese as you want.
There are plenty of Italian eateries where you can sit down and have a meal.
We tried some tigelle, a popular snack food in the Modena and Bologna area. Tigelle are thin round bread usually cooked between a press with a decoration stamped on them, which encase various fillings. Our trio of tigelle included pesto crudo, bolognese, and a sweet gelato (€7).
We tried some arrosticini which hails from the region of Abruzzo. Arrosticini are basically meat skewers cooked over a special grill.
We chose the lamb arrosticini in a pack of 5 with a side of bread drizzled with olive oil (€7).
Mr FPJ found a bar, and stopped in to see what was on the menu.
A tasting paddle of three beers was the easiest choice.
We passed a store selling everything potato.
We browsed through Palazzolo patisserie (established in 1920) to look at some of the cakes and cannoli on offer.
My aunt and I shared some cannoli and a small tart.
We stopped by Venchi for some gelato.
We also got thick Italian hot chocolates with a side of cream at another patisserie.
There was a small cart in the middle of Eataly World selling these delicious looking chocolate discs in milk, dark and white chocolate, with nuts and various other flavours. So tempting!
We browsed through a large shop selling various types of balsamic vinegar. However we had just stocked up on balsamic vinegar to bring back home at Acetaia Angelo in Modena. Prices here seemed a lot more expensive too in comparison.
Of course there’s a large Italian wine shop with this wall of their 100 wines by the glass.
You can learn about vegetation techniques, however this area is sectioned off and you need to purchase tickets to enter.
I absolutely loved browsing through the supermarket section. There are so many goodies you can buy from all over Italy!
Check out this massive wall of different shapes and types of pastas. And there was a lot more than this!
We almost forgot about the outdoor section of Eataly World. As it was a weekday, a lot of it was closed down but we saw a row of animals such as geese, donkeys, cows and pigs. There are also patches of outdoor gardening and vegetation where I believe you can book in for Italian horticulture sessions.
It was time to head back to the car and Padua, but we made a stop at Ruliano for some prosciuttio di parma with gnocco fritto and wine.
There are little quirks at Eataly World such as some of the communal stools have bicycle pedals on them (so you can do some exercise as you eat). It’s such a large area that you can actually hire bicycles to get around the park.
There are workshops and classes you can book in to subject to a fee and this is mainly available on weekends. I don’t think we saw everything, but there was quite a lot that was closed during the week when there are less people.
I wouldn’t necessarily go all the way to Bologna just to visit FICO Eataly World. But it is something to do if you’re interested in eating and shopping for food, eager to learn how certain Italian foods are grown and produced, and have some time to kill in Bologna.
FICO Eataly World
Via Paolo Canali 8 40121 – Bologna, Italy
Thursday-Sunday: 11.00 – 23.00.
Other posts from Italy
Some other posts from around Padua that you might enjoy:
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Patisseries and Gelato
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Trattoria al Bigolaro
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Ristorante Pizzeria El Gaucho
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Locanda Bel Fiore
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Val Pomaro
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Acetaia Angelo Modena
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Trattoria da Nane della Giulia
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Rivoluzione Pizza
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Trattoria Dai Tosi
- Eating in Italy (Padua) – Trattoria dalla Mora
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