BOLOGNA, ITALY - You’ve probably been to a theme park before where you’ve maybe had food like cotton candy, hot dogs—maybe a funnel cake if you’re lucky. What if you could go to a park where the actual theme was food itself? Well, say goodbye to the typical fair-style junk and say hello to FICO Eataly World—the park dedicated entirely to the foodie in everyone.

Eataly, the chain of sprawling Italian food emporiums brought to the U.S. by celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich, has been building a $55 million theme park in Bologna, Italy that’ll cover 20 acres of land with Italian fare of all kinds. Originally announced in 2014, the park will be slated to open as soon as spring 2017.

“FICO Eataly World will be a place for food and environmental education,” according to the park’s website. “It shall provide children and young people from all over Italy with the chance of getting to know the rich heritage of our country, thus becoming an ambassador of the Italian agri-food history and culture. It shall be a place to study and make practical experiences, where to come in contact with every single stage of the production chain.”

FICO Eataly World says the park will include the following:

• 7,300-square-meters of restaurants
• 9,800-square-meters of markets and stores
• 10,000-square-meters of demo fields and breeding farms
• 10 classrooms
• 40 laboratories

Now being referred to as a "Disneyland of food," Eataly’s CEO Oscar Farinetti says he hopes the park will attract as many as 6 million guests per year. “We want people from around the world to play with this magical thing, Italian food,” said Farinetti. 

And with Italy’s food culture being nearly unrivaled across the world, it’s easy to imagine tourists would travel in droves to celebrate the country’s cuisine.

FICO Eataly World