The studios of Cinecittà were inaugurated 80 years ago, on the 28th of April, by Benito Mussolini.
To celebrate this anniversary, the studios are more opened than ever to the public with different exhibitions (opened every day, except Tuesday, from 9.30 to 19.30) , sets (ancient Rome, Jerusalem, Florence in the 1400) and didactic activities for children. Especially on Sunday where it is also possible to have a picnic on the lawns around “Il Caffé, with the Federico Fellini’s “Venusia” that is there since he shot his “Casanova” in the 1976.
To celebrate this anniversary, the studios are more opened than ever to the public with different exhibitions (opened every day, except Tuesday, from 9.30 to 19.30) , sets (ancient Rome, Jerusalem, Florence in the 1400) and didactic activities for children. Especially on Sunday where it is also possible to have a picnic on the lawns around “Il Caffé, with the Federico Fellini’s “Venusia” that is there since he shot his “Casanova” in the 1976.
Federico Fellini used to take the Via Appia Antica, the Appian Way, to get to his work when he was making a film in the studios of Cinecitta. It is not really the shorter and quicker way. With the underground (metropolitana) that leaves you in the front of the legendary address, 1055 via Tuscolana ("Cinecittà" station), it is much easier. But a walk across the most beautiful consular road of the ancient Rome, shadowed by maritime pines and antique ruins, as the "maestro" used to do, is an unforgettable, magic experience. Perhaps the best way to be prepared to enter in the "Fabbrica dei Sogni", the "Factory of Dreams" as he called Cinecittà, also known as the "Hollywood on Tiber", the place where all the mythic movies of the Italian cinema, but also a lot of American peplum (Quo Vadis, Cleopatra, Ben Hur etc.....) and other big international productions were shot.
Cinecitta' Entrance
Only a few years ago, if you were not working on a film in the studios of Cinecittà, you couldn't enter in that fabulous world. Now it is changed: you can visit every day, from the morning to the evening (at the exception of Tuesday), at least a part of the studios that Mussolini, aware of the importance of cinema (there was no TV or Internet at that time) for the propaganda, built in 1937.
A part of the studios were in fact transformed, these last years, in a museum where, if you like cinema, you feel in paradise. Surrounded by screens showing old movies in black and white, by fabulous costumes of the passed centuries (Cleopatra's dresses, Fellini's Casanova costumes...), stars photos, objects used in different movies, manuscripts of some screenplays... and even the saloon of a spaghetti -western.
A part of the studios were in fact transformed, these last years, in a museum where, if you like cinema, you feel in paradise. Surrounded by screens showing old movies in black and white, by fabulous costumes of the passed centuries (Cleopatra's dresses, Fellini's Casanova costumes...), stars photos, objects used in different movies, manuscripts of some screenplays... and even the saloon of a spaghetti -western.
Venusia from The Movie "Fellini's Casanova"
A Typical Spaghetti Western Saloon
Federico Fellini, who almost lived there when he was working, has a place of honour. The exhibition starts with "The Fellini Room", just near the entrance of the famous studio 5, the biggest one were he directed all his movies. Even the famous via Veneto was reconstructed in Cinecittà for the "Dolce Vita" because, explained Fellini, "in a studio, I can make the light exactly as I want".
You can see and hear him in a documentary projected on one of the walls. The others are full of his drawings, all dreams and nightmares that where the real inspiration for his extraordinary movies.
You can see and hear him in a documentary projected on one of the walls. The others are full of his drawings, all dreams and nightmares that where the real inspiration for his extraordinary movies.
Federico Fellini Dreams Drawings
At the end of a peregrination in a sort of labyrinth full of images and sounds that makes you a bit dizzy, you can enter in a submarine. Exactly the same one that you see on a little screen at the entrance where you can watch a scene from an American war movie, "U571", that was shot in Cinecittà in the 2000...
If you choose a guided visit, you can also walk all around Cinecittà, going through centuries and continents, with houses and streets constructed in wood, polystyrene and resin, as everything that is made by the extraordinary artisans of Cinecittà. The illusion is perfect, you are really transported elsewhere, in another time. Exactly like you are watching a movie.
If you choose a guided visit, you can also walk all around Cinecittà, going through centuries and continents, with houses and streets constructed in wood, polystyrene and resin, as everything that is made by the extraordinary artisans of Cinecittà. The illusion is perfect, you are really transported elsewhere, in another time. Exactly like you are watching a movie.
The Submarine From The Movie "U571"
The Set From The Tv serial "Rome"
The Set From The Movie "Gangs Of New York"
