Cinecittá: Italy’s Hollywood

Escape into classic Italian cinema with a timeless tour of Cinecittá Studios. Built in the late 30’s, Cinecittá houses the sets and costumes for Italy’s classic and popular films and TV shows.

Some of the world’s greatest films were created here including the extraordinary epics like Ben Hur and Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. (In fact, some masterpieces from the films were displayed in the small buildings turned museum.)

Cinecittá’s popular Studio 5 is one of the biggest studios in Europe. Classic Italian director Federico Fellini used Studio 5 for the majority of his films. In fact, for La Dolce Vita, to avoid the constant traffic on Rome’s posh via Veneto, he had a flat replica of the steep curvy street recreated inside the now famous studio.

Pictured above is probably one of the most iconic dresses in Italian cinema: The low cut black dress and white wrap worn by Anita Eckberg in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. This ensemble is best remembered from the famous Trevi fountain scene along side Marcello Mastroianni.

The back lot sets tour includes a replica of early 30’s Broadway in New York City – built for Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. The majority of the film was filmed at Cinecittá as Mr. Scorsese’s homage to Italian cinema and still functioning classic studios.

Also seen is the set of ancient Rome; which seemed to be the most intact because it is constantly used the for TV, adverts, and film.

Of course, Cinecittá studios are still in use today. For example, George Clooney used the spaces to film the recent AmazonPrime limited run series Catch 22.

The studios are open daily (hours may vary). Tours are conducted in Italian, but you can reserve an English language tour by contacting the studios ahead of time.

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• Cinecittà Studios – Via Tuscolana, 1055, Rome

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NOTE: This is an updated version of an article originally posted in 2011 on a previous blog I ran called Modern Culture: Italy. The article was part of a series called Adventures in Rome. The blog no longer exists; however, I am pulling and updating some of the articles that I found to be interesting enough to have a life here on Magnusmade.com.