A venture involving Eataly, the Italian food-emporium chain, and the municipality of Bologna will develop a theme park dedicated to food, continuing a string of public-private partnerships in Italy aimed at creating jobs and spurring economic activity.

The city-controlled Centro Agro Alimentare has provided land that today includes a number of unused warehouses for an 80,000-square-meter (almost 20-acre) theme park that would have restaurants, grocery stores, food labs and an aquarium, among other features. Promoters of the...