In 2021 Fico Eataly World, the large theme park in Bologna entirely dedicated to food, closed the balance sheet with a turnover of 12 million euros, and 3 million losses, with an average of visitors ranging between 5.5 and 12 thousand per week. These are the numbers revealed by the managing director Stefano Cigarini in a long interview with Corriere di Bologna. 

Cigarini, the supermanager called a year ago to revive the fate of the theme park, explains that "Fico is partly unfinished. We are an innovative park that does not exist in the world and the desired format arrives by trial and error. We will have other negative balances, we need time. The shareholders go forward with awareness". 

Cigarini highlights the advantages of some optimizations, such as the opening reduced to just 4 days and the Sunday closing at 6 pm, an operation that would have allowed us to save 4 million euros. The manager also defends the choice of having paid entry: "We have lost occasional buyers, but we have gone from 15 euros of average spending to 35 euros considering the 10 euros of ticket. The average stop has gone from 2 to 5 hours". On the other hand, subscriptions were bad: "I hoped that those at 29 euros would go better: I thought 10 thousand, it was 4 thousand". Figures light years away from the 6 million visitors a year promised by Oscar Farinetti when Fico was inaugurated in 2017. 

Among the news announced, the change of management of the catering service which will no longer be entrusted to Camst, the expansion of the congress services with the construction of two new rooms, and the agreement with the fair which is committed for 3 years to 8-10 events a year in the spaces of Fico. And the operation of the temporary stadium of Bologna Calcio, which will be prepared near Fico, pending the restructuring of the glorious Dallara. The name? It will be "Fico Arena".