Cinecitta Studios
Cinecitta Studios
Cinecittà Studios
City of movies
A little insider tip for Rome repeat visitors or film lovers! If you want to see where “La vita è bella”, “Ben Hur” or “Gangs of New York” were filmed, you shouldn’t miss the Cinecittà Studios!
My rating:
The Positives:
It is something special to look behind, or rather into, the scenes.
Cinecittà is actually quite easy to reach by metro, and yet it is a hidden highlight.
The Negatives:
They changed the times of the guided tours: now it is only on weekends. We have no idea how you can make sure to register to the guided tour... Or if it costs more....
Tip:
Book your ticket in advance and pay attention to the time. During my visit, it got quite dark during this time.
Last Modified: 28.02.2024 | Céline & Susi
Cinecittà Studios
Tickets
Admission + Tour
EUR 12.50Admission to the museum + guided Tour (weekends: English tour at 11:30)
buy ticket
The details
at a glance
Prices
EUR 12.50 for adults
EUR 8.50 for senior citizens over 65, young people between 13 and 25 years of age
EUR 6.50 for children between 5 – 12 years, people with disabilities (accompanying person free admission)
Free admission for children under 5
Cinecitta Studios
Photo Gallery
What is there
to see?
So many things!! 😉
General information
If you arrive by underground (line A) and get off at the “Cinecittà” stop of the same name, you cannot miss the film studios. CINECITTA is written in large letters above the entrance, making the size of the area visible from the outside. The film area behind it is spread over about 60 hectares.
Before you can visit the sets with an escort, you have the opportunity to see more. You have between 60 and 90 minutes to do this.
On the one hand, there is the MIAC (Museo Italiano dell’Audiovisivo e del Cinema) and – as it was when we visited in 2021 – the guided tour. Now those are only taking place on weekends. Only with the tour, you can discover the outdoor sets. The changes are due to filmings that currently are taking place at the “Ancient Rome” set.
Museum
The MIAC
This museum displays various film clips from the films produced here (including “Vacanze Romane”), costumes, cameras and much more. You can also test a “green-box”, practise your dubbing or take a close look at the submarine from the film U-571. With great attention to detail, information about the films and the film productions is passed on to the visitor.
Highlight
The tour of the studios
The highlight of Cinecittá, however, is definitely the studios, i.e. the set, which you are not allowed to enter on your own, but only in a group and accompanied by a guide.
Advantage: You get a nice overall picture and numerous interesting facts and figures about the individual sets.
Disadvantage: You are forced to follow the pace of the group and cannot take time for detailed observations.
What there should always be time for, however, is to knock on one of the “stone walls” and then realise that it is actually just cardboard, as a backdrop. 🙂
On this set tour, three or four studios are visited: “Studio Hall 5”, “Ancient Rome”, “the Temple of Jerusalem” and “Florence in 1400”. The famous “Theatre 5”, on the other hand, can only be entered when no film production is taking place.
It’s all very big here (much bigger than it looks in the photos) and impressive, but at the same time so small, because it’s actually just parts of a city. And only walls, not buildings, and there’s nothing but air behind them (i.e. behind the scenery). It’s difficult to put it into words, so it’s best to see it for yourself 🙂
The “Ancient Rome” set was built for the HBO TV series Roma and is spread over 10 hectares. Anyone familiar with the Roman Forum will recognise the similarities. What in reality consists only of ruins, rises here in splendour of colour and size – but of course only the façades…
The “Temple of Jerusalem” was designed by Francesco Frigeri for the film The Young Messiah by Cyrus Nowrasteh (2016). Although he worked very freely and combined many different styles, he managed to make the façade have a very realistic effect. In the film, the positioning of the actors and camera also makes it look much higher than it actually is. Here you realise once again that a film is a show.
“Florence in 1400” was actually designed and built by Marco Dentici in 2002 for the TV series Francesco. Over the years, the set has been adapted and extended several times and has also been used for other film productions: the famous balcony from Carlo Carli’s Romeo and Juliet can also be seen here.
All in all, a nice tour that gives you a glimpse into the set (not behind the scenes this time…) and film productions!
By the way: There is a workshop for children every Sunday (on IT) to bring cinema and film production closer to kids as well. Pre-registration here.
Cinecittá Studios
A bit of history
The fact that there is a “city of cinema” in Rome is thanks to Benito Mussolini, who opened Cinecittà in 1937. “La vita è bella”, “Ben Hur” or “Vacanze Romane” are only 3 of over 3,000 films that were shot here. The film area was built in less than 1.5 years in the fascist architectural style and still fascinates today.
It was and still is a highlight that there is a small “Hollywood” in Italy with 22 halls and artificial lakes. It seems as if anything is possible here! And what is not (yet) possible is made possible!
In the beginning, Cinecittà was only used for propaganda films. But in the 50s at the latest, the film business was internationalised here and the famous film classics were made. The reason: Italy was a cheap film location for the Americans at that time.
Things went uphill with Cinecittà. But in the 1970s, the “film empire” began to decline. The huge premises were mainly used for series for Italian private television and for the production of commercials. Many halls remained empty, many employees had to be laid off. With the films “Gangs of New York” (2002) and “Grande Bellezza” (2013), Cinecittà regained popularity.
But the success was not to last long because although the location has more than 80 years of film history, where more than 50 Oscar-winning film legends were produced, it seems as if the production site is rather in a crisis… Thus, Cinecittà is currently being used again increasingly for cheap productions such as “Grande Fratello” (Italian version of Big Brother). Sets in countries like the Czech Republic or Romania are simply cheaper and therefore more attractive.
Since 2014, there has been an amusement park called “Cinecittá World” and “Roma World” in the Roman district of Castel Romano. There are roller coasters and other attractions that match the theme.
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2021 – 2024
With the support of Susanne Vukan.
