Not even the name of “cool” remained in Oscar Farinetti’s project on the outskirts of Bologna. The Italian peasant factory (hence the acronym) inaugurated in 2017, with the idea of taking visitors on a journey from the land to traditional Italian dishes, closed its activities in 2024. To then be reborn with the ambition of being a mini expo of culinary art from North to South. Even this recipe, however, is not convincing the public: the 2025 budget shows 6 million euros in total revenues and a net loss of 6.2 million euros. After almost ten years the project does not produce the desired results, but for the company led by the Farinettis the causes of the failure are external.
Expectations at launch
Fico opens on November 15, 2017 on the wave of the success of the Milan Expo which was held in 2015 and which had nutrition as its theme. The idea, however, had already been conceived in 2012. The numbers were mind-boggling: 100 thousand square meters (80 thousand of which are covered), 40 factories for food processing, shops, a conference centre.
It was supposed to be an experiential and educational journey – with vegetable gardens, stables, a pigsty – which reconciled the world of the agricultural company with that of catering. In between, for Farinetti, there had to be 6 million visitors a year to repay an initial investment, between public and private, of around 120 million euros over time.
The project doesn’t take off
After the first five weeks, Eataly World, the company managing the project, announced that it had registered 350 thousand visitors and a turnover of 6.4 million euros. Not a bad start. Six months after its debut, admissions reached one and a half million and turnover was close to 26 million. But the initial push fades. In 2019 Fico recorded a loss of 3 million euros and visitors stopped at 1.6 million. Farinetti tries to explain these numbers. He declares that his creation “needs time”. If “the influx of Italians is in line with forecasts”, the problem lies in attracting them from abroad: “We lack foreigners: today they are at 400 thousand and instead we need 2 million”.
Covid and conversion
The Covid-19 pandemic only makes the situation worse. The accounts for 2020 and 2021 record, respectively, a loss of 4.2 million and 3 million euros. Even in 2022, when most of the closures and red zones now belonged to recent history, there are still difficulties: 6.5 million loss.
So in 2023 Farinetti decides to enter the group directly and relaunch Fico, which will change its name as well as its structure. 50 percent of Eataly world, the company behind the agri-food park, passes to Eatinvest, the holding company of the Farinetti family. After taking the reins of the project, acquiring the share of Coop Alleanza, the entrepreneur makes perhaps his first self-criticism: “The problem is that we made a mistake and therefore we want to apologise. I can say that my family, in the last three years, has paid little attention to the park and I wouldn’t do it again”.
So the rebirth of Fico in Grand tour Italia begins. The spaces are redesigned to accommodate schools, families and events. The message, like the culinary journey, is simplified. The space becomes a place where you can learn about the 20 Italian regions and their dining traditions. The project must start again from a loss of 3 million in 2023. But even in this case, the new creature does not reward investments. 2024 ends with a red of around 4.7 million euros.
Perhaps the strongest statement from the owner arrived in May 2025, which seemed to deny the project itself. For Farinetti the only mistake behind the former Fico “was doing it in Bologna”. Rather than in the capital of Emilia-Romagna, for the entrepreneur his project had to be born in Milan: “It would have been perfect for after the Expo, it could only work there. There was a need for a city with a strong international footprint, connected with the rest of the world and with a certain type of tourism”. He then links the group’s failure to some public and private projects that were never completed: “We won’t be able to respect what was budgeted until the stadium opens which, together with the tram, is one of the reasons why I chose that location.”
The results of 2025
And the company’s latest financial statement can only still be negative: the net loss is 6.2 million euros. In the attached report, the company identifies externally the causes behind the failure to relaunch the project. If Grand Tour Italia did not at least break even, it is due to some factors: the failure to reach strategic agreements with the individual Italian regions, the lack of public transport connections, the stop to the construction of a temporary stadium for Bologna in the area close to the Grand Tour. To revive his hub of Italian cuisine, Farinetti will therefore have to rely on his own strength.