Cinecittà

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Entrance to the Cinecittà studios

Set of the film Gangs of New York

Cinecittà (Italian for Cinema City) is a large film studio in Rome that is the hub of Italian cinema.

[edit] History

The studios were founded in 1937 by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini for propaganda purposes, under the slogan "Il cinema è l'arma più forte" (Cinema is the most powerful weapon). The studios were bombed by the Western Allies during World War II. In the 1950s, Cinecittà was the filming location for several large American film productions like Ben-Hur, and then became the studio most closely associated with Federico Fellini.

After a period of near-bankruptcy in the 1980s, Cinecittà was privatized by the Italian government. It hosted the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest, after the venue was changed from Sanremo due to security concerns.

On August 9, 2007, a fire destroyed about 32,000 square feet (3,000 m²) of the Cinecittà lot and surroundings. The historic part that houses the sets of classics such as Ben-Hur were not damaged.

[edit] Notable productions

As the home of Italian cinema, Cinecittà has seen the production of many classic films such as La dolce vita and Satyricon. Many consider it synonymous with Italian cinema in general.

Since the days of Ben Hur, the studios have welcomed international productions, recent examples include Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York and Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Cinecittà also hosts TV productions, such as Grande Fratello, the Italian version of Big Brother, where the Big Brother house is built on Cinecittà's premises.

Additionally, the BBC/HBO series Rome was filmed here from 2004-2007, the show being widely acclaimed for its sets and designs. BBC Wales reused some of these sets for an episode of the 2008 series of Doctor Who set in ancient Pompeii.