Cinecittà

Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios were constructed during the Fascist era as part of a plan to revive the Italian film industry.

Filmmakers such as Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Sergio Leone, Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Mel Gibson have worked at Cinecittà. More than 3,000 movies have been filmed there, of which 90 received an Academy Award nomination and 47 of these won it. In the 1950s, the number of international productions being made there led to Rome being dubbed "Hollywood on the Tiber."

History

The studios were founded in 1937 by Benito Mussolini, his son Vittorio, and his head of cinema Luigi Freddi under the slogan "''Il cinema è l'arma più forte''" ("Cinema is the most powerful weapon"). The purpose was not only for propaganda, but also to support the recovering Italian feature film industry, which had reached its low point in 1931. Mussolini himself inaugurated the studios on 21 April 1937. Post-production units and sets were constructed and heavily used initially. Early films such as ''Scipio Africanus'' (1937) and ''The Iron Crown'' (1941) showcased the technological advancement of the studios. Seven thousand people were involved in the filming of the battle scene from ''Scipio Africanus'', and live elephants were brought in as a part of the re-enactment of the Battle of Zama.

The studios were bombed by the Western Allies during the bombing of Rome in World War II. Following the war, between 1945 and 1947, the studios of Cinecittà were used as a displaced persons' camp for a period of about two years, following German occupation and Allied bombing that destroyed parts of the studio. An estimated 3,000 refugees lived there, divided into two camps: an Italian camp housing Italians as well as displaced people from Italian Libya and Dalmatia, and an international camp, including refugees from Yugoslavia, Poland, Egypt, Iran, and China.

After rebuilding in the postwar years, the studios were used once again for their post-production facilities. In the 1950s, Cinecittà, described as ''Hollywood on the Tiber'', was the location for several large American film productions, like ''Roman Holiday'' (1953), '' Beat the Devil'' (1953), ''The Barefoot Contessa'' (1954), '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), and some low-budget action pictures starring Lex Barker. Barker also featured in Federico Fellini's ''La Dolce Vita'' (1960) and the studios were for many years closely associated with Fellini.

In the same period, the studios were used for further international productions such as ''Francis of Assisi'' (1961), ''Cleopatra'' (1963), '' The Agony and the Ecstasy'' (1965), Zeffirelli's ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1968), ''Fellini's Casanova'' (1976), '' La Traviata'' (1982) and many other productions.

It hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1991. This was the 36th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on Stage 15. Due to the Gulf War and mounting tensions in Yugoslavia, RAI decided to move the contest from Sanremo to Rome which was perceived to be more secure.

After a period of near-bankruptcy, the Italian Government privatized Cinecittà in 1997, selling an 80% stake. On August 9, 2007, a fire destroyed about 3,000 m² (32,000 sq. ft.) of the Cinecittà lot and surroundings. The historic part that houses the sets of classics such as ''Ben-Hur'' was not damaged; however, a good portion of the original sets from the HBO/BBC series ''Rome'' was destroyed. In July 2012, another fire damaged Teatro 5, the vast studio where Fellini filmed ''La Dolce Vita'' and ''Satyricon'' (1969). A third fire in August 2022 destroyed part of a partially dismantled set depicting Renaissance-era Florence and disrupted filming of the sequel to ''The Old Guard''.

Since the 1990s, films have included Anthony Minghella's ''The English Patient'' (1996), Martin Scorsese's ''Gangs of New York'' (2002), Wes Anderson's ''The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'' (2004) and Mel Gibson’s ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004).

Notable TV productions

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. The complex also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1991.

In addition, the BBC
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