“From Energy for the Planet to Energy for Italy: with Expo Milano 2015 we have realized that we can achieve wonderful things and now we want to bring some of this pride to the project Fabbrica Italiana Contadina in Bologna”. On Monday October 26, the founder of Eataly delivered a speech at Expo Milano 2015 to officially present FICO – Fabbrica Italiana Contadina (Italian Farming Factory), the first Eataly World to be established in the next few months at the former Caab – Bologna Agro-Food Center. Other speakers at the event also stressed its importance, including Maurizio Martina  (Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies), Virginio Merola (Mayor of Bologna), Stefano Bonaccini (President of the Emilia Romagna Region), Paolo De Castro (rapporteur for Expo Milano 2015 of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee), Tiziana Primori (CEO of FICO Eataly World), Alberto Olivetti (President of ENPAM), Andrea Cornetti (CIO of Prelios SGR) and Andrea Segré (President of CAAB and of the scientific committee of the Italian Agro-Food Parks – PAI).

 

From Expo Milano 2015 to Fabbrica Italiana Contadina

 

Built on a site spanning 80,000 square meters in the former Bologna Agro-Food Center, FICO – Fabbrica Italiana Contadina will be the largest organization in the world dedicated to the Italy of fine food, an Eataly World designed to show off the beauty, taste and expertise of the Italian agro-food industry to the world. A welcoming place where visitors will be able to taste, buy and learn, enjoying an experience based not only on fine food but also on culture. FICO will be divided into various themed areas, which will span from cereals to wine, from meat to oily fish, combining the most ancient myths and the latest innovations. There will be real cultivated fields and even olive mills and cheese workshops. The space will be a large museum, but at the same time, a location which is truly active and productive, designed to show how our food originates and to attract visitors from all over the world, capitalizing on the energy generated by Expo Milano 2015.

 

FICO, the tale of good Italian food told in a grand Fellinian circus

 

“Fabbrica Italiana Contadina will be a grand Fellinian circus - Oscar Farinetti began – with farmers who produce the raw materials, skilled craftsmen who process it and chefs who take their products and create wonderful dishes. It will be the story of the beauty and taste of the Italian agro-food industry, full of contents and educational elements, expressed on signs, and in films and performances. The grand innovative element of FICO will be its storytelling, something we Italians have never focused on before.”

 

At FICO the vocation for living well as expressed by Emilia Romagna

 

“It doesn’t surprise me that FICO has been created in Bologna – stated Maurizio Martina - Emilia Romagna has a grand vocation for both the agro-food business and also for welcoming visitors, and with the Fabbrica Italiana Contadina project, the region will be setting an example that the entire Country should follow. I would like to use this opportunity to thank a Region which has always supported Expo Milano 2015 in the months of the exhibition, believing in us and trusting in our success, even when the context was difficult and uncertain.” “We are proud to be able to say that FICO has not developed one single hectare of cemented land, as it will be created inside the former Bologna Agro-Food Center – stated Virginio Merola – a structure which, thanks to this project, is embarking upon a new life and which will be autonomous from an energy point of view, due to the solar energy system installed on the roofs.” “With such a fertile relationship between tradition and innovation, Emilia Romagna can turn out to be a driving force for the growth of Italy – stated Stefano Bonaccini – in addition to the Food Valley, our area also offers the Motor Valley and the Wellness Valley, excellent production areas which, together with the Riviera of Romagna and the landscapes of the Apennines, form part of a wide range of attractions and facilities that are becoming increasingly popular with international tourists”.