The idea is good. Genius, actually, because it is simple. Having consumers experience first hand some aspects of production, processing and sales. This is what has been set up by FICO Eataly World, the world's largest agri-food park featuring typical high-quality Italian products. It was inaugurated on 15 November 2017 in Bologna and is located near Centro agro alimentare Caab.
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Oscar Farinetti
Oscar Farinetti was inspired to create it 4 years ago by Andrea Segré (President of Fondazione FICO) and Alessandro Bonfiglioli (Caab General Director). Farinetti stresses that FICO was set up without public financing. We visited the fresh produce section during the opening day.
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The apple wall at the entrance. The fruit will be replaced every 15 days throughout winter
The "production" area is located behind the "processing" and shop areas. There is a small plot that features winter vegetable plants (transplanted fully grown) as well as pear, peach and cherry trees.
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Professor Silviero Sansavini
"It's a garden, of course it's not an orchard. The objective is to provide a chance for consumers to see the plants, as most of them, especially children, have never seen the plant in a field. In the future, visitors will be able to witness crop and harvesting operations," explained Professor Silviero Sansavini.
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The vegetable plot
FICO is a large theme park focusing on high-quality food. It was developed from the original Wholesale market facility which remained empty after the market moved to a new one. It is basically a large Eataly with added processing and production. Of course the latter is only symbolic as it's small and wouldn't be enough to meet the demands for half a day.
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The orchard
The facility is welcoming and well organised. The leading product this time of year is apples. The fruit is of high-quality and it's arranged well. It's a pity that the origin only reports "Italy" and not the specific region.
CEFA's stand, NGO for the agricultural development of African countries
Now the challenge is to get visitors in, but we believe it is better to spend a day at FICO (first two hours of parking and entrance free) rather than in front of the television.
The entrance of FICO