No matter what Mario Batali may think. And if it were Italy why is this written in English? Eataly, Mario Batali’s blight on the face of the earth, is a tourist trap department store, whose high concept is that tourists can come there and never have to bother with all the difficulties of actually being in Italy. It’s all there for you. Why buy pasta from the nice old lady who is actually making it in a shop 20 feet away when you can buy something sorta like that in a real Eataly package? You can just come to Eataly and buy all your souvenirs and never have to worry that you will come into contact with an Italian, although Eataly IS Italy so you actually are, in a theoretical sense.
This offensive monstrosity sits about 40 feet from the Duomo in the main square of Florence surrounded real Italian stores that sell real Italian food, drink and culinary equipment.
The top 2 pictures are Eataly (I hate this name), the sign in the door reminds us that Eataly is Italy, and the other is a glimpse into its sterile bowels. The rest of the pictures are food resources within less than a minute walk from this miserable place. If it hadn’t been raining I’d have taken 25 more because there are plenty of actual Italian stores that are not phony American bullshit.
Ugh.
