Fake world or trip to Cinecitta

Life is a wonderful thing and we all know that. Sometimes we are happy, sometimes we’re not, but that’s the way things are, we are not able to appreciate what we’ve got until it’s taken away from us even for a while. Or until we have something to compare it with. Like with a movie. I don’t know a single person who hadn’t said at least once - “I wish I were her” meaning that lady from whateveritsnameis movie, or “I wish my love story was as exciting as theirs” (That’s not about me though, mine is awesome and when my grandchildren will find out the way their grandparents met, they would definitely think that we’re awesome). Anyway, we all do love that amazing fantasy world we see in movies. But I guess nobody cared how this world was made. Well, I was lucky enough to see the insight. I have been to the most amazing place of all, it’s not fair to compare it to Modigliani exhibition or to some fancy villa, but wow, really – WOW! Now I can proudly say that I HAVE BEEN TO A MOVIE SET! And not a tiny one, but a real one, a big one, where things are happening right now, where some outstanding pieces of art are made, where some geniuses create that fantasy world some of us dream of every once in a while. I have been to Cinecitta.

The studios were founded in 1937 by Benito Mussolini, his son Vittorio, and his head of cinema Luigi Freddi for propaganda purposes, under the slogan “Il cinema è l’arma più forte” (Cinema is the most powerful weapon). Mussolini himself inaugurated the studios on April the 21st, 1937, which is also the alleged anniversary of the founding of Rome. Post-production units and sets were constructed and heavily used initially. 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 colonized Libya and Dalmatia, and an International camp, where the refugees ranged from Yugoslavia, Poland, Egypt, Iran, and to China. Through the immediate post war years, the studios were used once again for their post production facilities as rebuilding had taken form. 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. Pink Floyd performed, on three consecutive nights, at the studio during The Division Bell Tour on September 19–21, 1994. On August 9, 2007, a fire destroyed about 3000 m² (32,000 sq. ft.) of the Cinecittà lot and surroundings. The historic part that houses the sets of classics such as Ben-Hur were not damaged, however a good part of the original sets from the HBO/BBC series Rome were destroyed.

Taken from guesswherefrom

So now the part available to tourists consists of Fellini building, Presidential building, Broadway and  Ancient Rome. However if you don’t buy the expensive ticket, you’re not allowed into the last two parts. Ordinary ticket is 10 euros, cool one is 20. The cool one not only gives you the opportunity to visit Broadway and Ancient Rome, but also gives you access to some real filming locations and grants you with a guide who speaks English. We were incredibly lucky, because our group consisted only of 5 people – me, my one and only, a couple of young people (With a baby so small that I didn’t count him) and some other chick. And since we were only 5, we saw how they film a commercial. And where a scene of a Hollywood movie was made, but the movie is still to be announced, we know more than ordinary people now, muahaha.

Fellini building

Cinecitta bar-shop

Filming area

Now Ladies and Gents, this is the cool part! Teatro Nr.5 is the place where some amazing things were made – full movie Amarcord by Maestro Fellini was filmed here (if you haven’t seen it yet – HURRY), here the Vatican was filmed for a movie “Angels and Demons (because you’re just not allowed to film in real Vatican, so you build it from zero, where’s the problem?), NINE by Rob Marshall etc.

And the Ancient Rome part – voila!

Created for the Anglo-American TV epic, Rome, the set covers an area of almost four hectares and recreates Rome as it was during the time of Julius Caesar. The production, one of the costliest in TV history, took us back to a movie genre thet proved extremely successful in the 1960′s, that of the Italian Peplum and the great American epic movies like Cleopatra or Ben Hur. The set recreates the major civilian and religious building of the Roman Forum, with the Via Sacra, the Triumphant Arch, the temples of Venus and Jupiter and the area of Subura, with people’s homes and the artisan workshops. 

And another filming set

Presidential building – Backstage