Eataly World Just Opened In Bologna, Italy, And It's Amazing

Three years and $100 million later, the long-awaited Eataly World has finally opened its doors. The giant showcase for fine Italian fare covers an impressive 1 million square feet with 47 restaurants, 40 areas for food production, 22 gardens, a sports complex, and six pens with cows, sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens — all free to roam about their stalls and eat organic feed. Through workshops and classes, visitors can follow their food's production line from the time it's harvested or butchered to the moment it hits their plates.

The Associated Press reports that park owner Oscar Farinetti, who owns the worldwide Italian market chain Eataly, hopes to bring in 6 million visitors a year — half local and half from abroad. But for Italy natives, the park will go by a differnent name: FICO. It stands for Fabbrica Italiana Contadina, or "Italian Farm Factory." But if you're hip to Italian slang, the acronym also means "cool."

"I hope that this becomes the most important place in the world for whoever wants to study food, eat well, and understand the history of food," Farinetti told the AP. "In this, we need to think big, like in the fashion world."

Entry to the park is free, but according to Eataly World's website, there are tons of alluring ways to empty your wallet once you're inside. A Barolo-heavy wine tasting costs $65, or you can do wine and dinner for $88. Some cheaper options include a grand tour for $18 and six interactive rides about humanity and nature for $12. Workshops and cooking classes for meat, cheese, pizza, pasta, candies, gelato, beer, wine, and olive oil cost $24. There's even a course on how to take the most delicious-looking photos, which wanderlust-prone photographers will want to snap throughout the pastoral park — or at these 15 Instagrammable destinations you can visit on a budget.