FICO Eataly World

A nice few hours. Well worth the money for the tastings it was enough that we had had lunch! And lots of yummy options to choose from. Locals give this place a bad wrap but we really enjoyed it!

We were all excited to do this. It looked well organised to start. The man leading the course only spoke Italian so that made it harder but we managed. we all got to make our own pizzas with a little help from chef then they were taken away from us to go in the oven. That’s when the problem started. We lost sight of our pizza and then we were just handed back anyones pizza and not the one that you had made. This meant that no one in my family would eat the pizzas as we had already commented as we started the experience that he didn’t ask anyone to go and wash their hands!!! Such a waste of good pizza but there was no way we would eat something that we didn’t know who had made it especially as we had watched some interesting traits of the people on the course with us!

It’s was not what we were expecting at all. We were in a large group and the lady spoke at us for at least 30 minutes. First in Italian and then English. Too many facts and figures. We were bored as we just wanted to make the Gelato! We had a five minute hands on activity to make a sorbet and then watched the lady make the gelato in a machine. It was good gelato but the whole thing was poor.

Mah sinceramente nulla di così eccezionale , i soliti banchi dove anche un caffè ti costa un polmone.. insomma tutto carissimo e con poca sostanza. Una macchina spilla soldi Non tornarci più è fico 😉

Oggi dopo diverso tempo sono tornato a FICO. Premetto che spesso quando in viaggio e sono si passaggio sull’autostrada per Bologna, devio dal mio itinerario per passare da Fico sia per mangiare sia per una visita. Dopo diverso tempo oggi ci sono tornato, con l’estate ho visto un parcheggio completamente desolato, ma ci può stare visto il periodo estivo. All’ingresso ho trovato una piacevole sorpresa, un area animali ben organizzata con mucche, asinelli, capre ed alpaca. Una piacevole sorpresa, superata questa zona mi trovo all’ingresso, ed ho notato che per entrare era obbligatorio fare un biglietto ingresso di 15€ a persona (o 10€ online)…rimango perplesso e chiedo alla cassiera il perché si dovesse pagare l’ingresso e cosa comprendesse, mi è stato risposto attivita multimediali sensoriali ecc e che vi erano altri tipi di ingressi più costosi che comprendevano menu degustazioni ed altro, ma il tutto non era specificato lì, sarebbe stato da controllore su internet sul sito. Ok mi scoccio subito e decido di pagare 10€ di ingresso per andare direttamente a mangiare al ristorante del Tartufo, il mio preferito. Entro e trovo più ristornati chiusi che aperti, compreso quello del tartufo. Allora mi sono chiesto quali fossero le attività sensoriali, non c’erano guide, nè percorsi, nè altro…ma solo tanto pressappochismo e desolazione. Allora una volta entrato mi accontento di mangiare degli arrosticini: 10pz +Moretti piccola+3 fette di pane tostate= 17€. Me lo faccio andare bene se solo non fosse che in realtà mi sono costate 27€. Mi chiedo perché qualcuno dovrebbe comprare qualcosa dagli scaffali ed andare nei ristoranti spendendo 10€ solo per accedervi. Una vera follia. Un posto che sembra abbandonato e destinato alla chiusura, sugli scaffali ho preso qualche articolo alimentare ed ho notato che erano scaduti da oltre una settimana. Ho pensato a visite fatte all’estero per esempio a Dublino alla fabbrica guinnes, al museo dell’emigrazione, ed ho pensato che se un turista visitasse questo posto tutta l’Italia ne verrebbe danneggiata, altro che eccellenza!Falliti

I admit, my expectations were high. Perhaps too high. Descriptions of FICO Eataly World make it sound like an amusement park for people who love to eat and drink (like me!) And it could be. All the components are there, but the day under-delivered in a number of key ways. First, it is just not busy enough to warrant sufficient staff to engage with and learn. I understand from one of the workers that June/July is off season for Italians, and not enough foreign tourist know about the place, so it doesn’t really get busy until September/October. As a result, the place seemed empty and a bit boring. Next, FICO hasn’t really recovered from the pandemic, and there are more than a few bare spots where former vendor/sponsors have pulled out and not returned. For example, the Modena balsamic vinegar section consists of a bunch of empty shelves and the Parmasian display was empty too. Finally, the gelato ‘course’ was thoroughly underwhelming. We whipped up a quick shrub based gelato buy hand, learned a bit about ratios for a proper for sorbet, then watched the instructor dump a premixed batch of liquid and flavor into a machine that 5 minutes later became good gelato. I still recommend that people check this place out. The concept is great and with support they can regain their footing. I wish we had done the Entrance + Tastings package, as that would have made a more complete day. Oh well… next time we’re in Bologna… we’ll be back!