In a joint private-public partnership, the food retailer from Italy Eataly and the city of Bologna are to open a "food centre" in the form of an 80 000 m² theme park. Scheduled to open in September 2017 just outside the city, it will feature a cultivation area and farms as well as 25 restaurants, a 9000m² market space and a large congress centre, the whole powered by photovoltaic panels. There will be workshops, education and events taking place in what Oscar Farinetti, the founder of Eataly, has described as the best food region of the world.