Cinecitta was opened by Mussolini in April 1937, with the objective of promoting Italy and the prevailing fascist ideals through cinema. The complex, in south-east Rome, was designed as a complete center of production, with facilities covering everything from coaching, thru the production of films, to post-production. Within 6 years, almost 300 films had been made at the new studios, helped by the Alfieri Law, introduced in 1939, which was built to help home-grown film production.
In 1943, Italy surrendered and the Germans usurped the country. They looted Cinecitta, and the film manufacturing resources were moved to temporary accommodation in Venice. Over the next two years, Cinecitta was the subject of associated bombing. Following the war, between 1945 and 1947, the studios of Cinecitta found a new use as a displaced people’ camp. The period from 1943 onwards gave towards the forming of the cinematic genre known as Italian neorealism ; the Roman filmmakers, denied both funding and access to the comforts of Cinecitta, took to the streets and used greenhorn actors. The ensuing films, like Rome, Open town, carried a strong sense of the problems with poverty and identity being faced in Italy at the time.
By the 1950s, American production corporations looking for inexpensive facilities began to turn their attention to Cinecitta. At this moment, thousands of tourists came to Roma in order to see the studios. During the holidays, films addicts rented an Appartement Vacances a Rome and tried to see Cinecitta.
Films like Roman holiday and three Coins in the Fountain made use of both the facilities at Cinecitta and the chances for location shooting in Rome itself. The studios also hosted many classic productions, an early example being Quo Vadis? In 1951. Ben Hur was filmed here in 1959, and the production of Cleopatra was moved from London to Cinecitta following issues with budgeting, bad weather and Elizabeth Taylor’s health.
Cinecitta Studios was privatized in the mid 1990s, and it now hosts many TV productions as well as films. The studio is closed to the public, although it infrequently opens for tours. If you go on Roma, don’t forget to check if you can visit it, and rent an Appartement à Rome near to Cinecitta. There are plans to open a full studio tour, |together with a theme park called Cinecitta World, at some particular point in the near future.