Verona, food and art, Eataly’s bet: “Unique, the city will fall in love with it”

The former meat icebox

These are the numbers of Eataly Verona, told by the managing director Nicola Farinetti. The new store is located in the Borgo Roma district, in the spaces of the former Specialized Refrigeration Station, which served as an icebox for meat in the former general warehouses of the industrial area of ​​the city. The large domed building, used briefly as a cultural concert venue in the 1990s, had been unused for a very long time. It should have become the pivot of a cultural hub for Verona, but Cariverona Foundation – owner of the complex – then had to adjust the game, looking for more economically sustainable destinations. It is here that you then found a home in what will probably remain the only Eataly in Veneto and the last in Italy, before the growth plans are concentrated in the USA.

The inauguration

The official inauguration is scheduled for Wednesday 5 October, with the opening to the public from 11 am. “It is the 15th Eataly of Italy, the 45th in the world and they are all different from each other – continues the CEO -: this is even more special because there is the Agricolo restaurant, focused on the fire, on the tradition of the product, but above all here the new Eataly Art House Foundation – E.ART.H. which has three galleries, one dedicated to photography, independent artists and one to contemporary art, two exhibitions already underway on the upper floor and the Ice House Museum. Our intent is to combine the two, so we will see if people will want to eat while looking at a work of art ». E.ART.H. is a non-profit foundation with the aim of making art accessible to the general public. “Eataly taught a new language of food – explains Oscar Farinetti -. Over the years we have copied and we have been copied, but creating innovative projects has always been our prerogative. The idea of ​​Eataly Verona was born from the desire to unite the world of art with the world of food. For this reason, Eataly Verona presents itself as an absolutely revolutionary project ». Market space coexist under one roof, where to buy Italian products and of the high quality territory, such as the salami of Lessinia, the soppressa vicentina, the tortellini of Valeggio, a selection of Garda oils and 400 labels of Veneto wine of the approximately 2000 total, but there is also the restaurant, with a proposal dedicated to seasonal dishes, and its school, to learn about every culinary secret through courses and initiatives.

“New possibilities for art”

During the preview of Eataly, many wanted to talk about the exceptional nature of the event seen from their perspective. First of all the (outgoing) minister Dario Franceschini for whom «Eataly Verona and the E.ART.H Foundation open up new possibilities for Italian art». «I really like the idea of ​​enhancing the territory that it fits into a context which is no stranger to our city – the words of the mayor of Verona Damiano Tommasi -. I hope that due to its central conformation this will also become a place for relationships. We need spaces for discussion, beautiful places, capable of generating that positive energy that helps us to be together and to be a team ». The superintendent of fine arts Vincenzo Tinè instead focused on the building where Eataly is housed, an example of industrial archeology, designed by engineer Pio Beccherle, inaugurated in 1930 and restored by the architect Mario Botta on commission from Cariverona, «two important clients who have been able to transform the old Verona Refrigeration Station, reviving it and giving it a new meaning – he concludes -. The Ice House Museum, which can be visited inside the structure, recalls the memory of the glorious industrial past of the Rotonda

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