Il logo e il luogo. Genealogia di Fico

Analyzing the semiotic dimension of Fico, an agri-food park near Bologna, we can see a structure of the space that make a large use of branding strategies. Fico takes up and amplifies some trends already present in unconventional restaurants; so it is necessary to go back at least to McDonald’s to reconstruct its genealogy. Having overcome the opposition between fast and slow food, after Eataly and Expo 2015 Fico tries to put on display the entire agri-food chain, but only partially succeeds. Rather than brand niche products, Fico explicitly opens up to the world of large-scale food distribution. The semiotic analysis of space provides useful demonstrations in this regard.