After maaaany trips to Rome, during which I never wanted to sacrifice certain visits to tourist attractions or even day trips around Italy, I finally decided to see Cinecittà – the largest and most famous film studio complex in Italy.
I mean, come on! I work in TV and I still hadn’t managed to visit the place where so many famous productions have been filmed and are still being filmed???
Said and done!
CINECITTÀ TOUR
I do a quick search online and see that I can book a guided tour. There are only tours in Italian (many of them) and one in French. I go for the French one. It costs €16.50 (€15 for the tour itself + €1.50 administration fee or something like that).
I hop on the metro at Piazza di Spagna and, in 21 minutes, without changing lines, I arrive at the Cinecittà station. The metro exit is right at the entrance to the studio complex.
Before the tour starts, I wander around the huge courtyard, because it’s open for walking around – it’s like a sort of park where you can stay as long as you want, both before and after the tour.
There is a museum and exhibition area where access is free, and beyond a locked gate begins the production area, where you can only enter with a guide, in an organized tour.
I’m buzzing with excitement to explore every corner because, back in 1996, when I was working at TVR, I actually came here, into one of the studios, for the filming of a famous production – I cervelloni – as part of a “twinning” program between TVR and RAI. And now, reunited with the Italians, I’m incredibly excited to see whether I remember anything from 30 years ago!!!
These things I definitely didn’t see 30 years ago… The courtyard is full of statues, objects, equipment, and props – it feels like I’m inside a huge display case filled with souvenirs collected from all over the world.
Later I found out that they are actually objects, tools, and props used in films produced here, arranged like a kind of open-air museum.
Each one has a small explanatory plaque, so you can find out in which film it played its role…
For example, here I took a photo with Venusia, created for the film Casanova, directed by the famous Federico Fellini (1976). It’s the mysterious creature that rises from the Grand Canal in Venice, only to sink back into the lagoon moments later.
This rocking horse is from the film Pinocchio (2002), directed by Roberto Benigni. When he first saw it on set, he apparently relived his childhood dream and didn’t want to get off it anymore to continue filming 🙂
I walk into a small cinema room – without anyone stopping me – named after Fellini. The room is used for events, special screenings, or presentations.
Then I visit the small museum packed with photos, costumes, masks, set design elements, and props from films made here.
Some “scenes” are charmingly recreated to give you a taste of the atmosphere of certain movies. And you can also watch short documentaries in a mini-cinema.
In the chroma key corner, you can learn about the visual effects that can be created using the famous green screen.
And by clapping a clapperboard bearing the names of some big shots of cinema, you can quickly end up next to… Angelina Jolie 🙂
I discover several clothing pieces, accessories, and jewelry used by Angelina in the film Maria Callas (2024).
I also step inside a submarine – the interior of a World War II submarine built for the film U-571 (2000).
The museum is a fascinating place for anyone passionate about the history of cinema, but it’s interesting even for people like me, who don’t necessarily know all the films mentioned here.
Then I quickly get out of the submarine because the call goes out: all the Italians and the French (and those of us who understand a bit of French 🙂 ) gather together. The guides take over, split us into small groups, and we head toward the secret area behind the gate marked “No Entry!”. Oh wow, I’m so excited – we’re going into the studios, we’re going to see where the productions are made, we’re going to learn all sorts of cool things!!!
First bombshell!!! The guide hasn’t even opened the padlock yet when he tells us:
“You are not allowed to take photos beyond this gate!” What?!?! Not at all??? Nothing???
“Nothing”, he emphasizes. Not even of the studio buildings!
Come on, that can’t be right. Okay, I understand they don’t want us photographing sets or scenes that are currently in production, but not even a few walls??? Well… no!
So I do a little… Romanian-style workaround, more out of frustration than from any real desire to keep images of the studios’ walls.
And as we walk along the alleys between the production areas, we all learn the story of the place.
THE HISTORY OF CINECITTÀ
Cinecittà was inaugurated in 1937, during the era of Benito Mussolini. It covers an area of 40 hectares, which is almost the size of the Vatican, believe it or not!
The complex includes sound stages – which I can’t wait to enter! – permanent sets, museums, and exhibition spaces.
It was and is still called “Hollywood on the Tiber”. Between 1950 and 1965, Americans filmed 27 major productions here. Famous movies such as La Dolce Vita, Ben-Hur, Gladiator, Roman Holiday, Quo Vadis, and Gangs of New York were produced here.
Americans came here because, as our guide explains, everything was professional, “higher quality than Hollywood, but much cheaper”.
The big productions filmed here needed a lot of extras, so many Italians took part in them. But what’s interesting is that they didn’t come only to appear in films and earn a bit of money, they also came for the… food!
After the war, there was widespread hunger, people were desperate, and these productions provided the extras with daily meals, which was a huge help.
Now (October 2025), there are 20 studios here. Well, actually 19, because they don’t use the number 17 – apparently they consider it unlucky.
They are also in the process of building four more studios, one of which will become the largest of them all. (Right now, Studio 5 is the biggest, with about 3,000 square meters. It’s the studio associated with Federico Fellini, who used it frequently.)
But Cinecittà hasn’t been used only for films, it has also hosted entertainment shows, galas, and reality TV, such as MasterChef Italia and Big Brother Italia. Not as many as in the past, though, because as Berlusconi “and his friends” (as the guide puts it) built their own studios, they gradually moved their productions away from here.
I can say that I caught that period when many TV shows were still filmed here, because I was actually a guest on one of them 🙂
I CERVELLONI
All I remember is that I came here by car, entered a building (God knows which one), I got changed, they did my makeup, and then seated me in the audience stands with the guests.
I was wide-eyed with amazement because it was the first time in my life I had seen a studio abroad, with a set like nothing I had ever imagined, and filming that could be done 360 degrees without seeing cables, cameras, crew, technical areas, and so on.
There were tanks driving onto the set, little trains running along the first level of the décor, and ballerinas who looked as if they were living the happiest day of their lives while dancing… In short, I felt like a country girl visiting a big city for the first time.
It was the period when I was doing Scoala vedetelor, but what I saw here felt like science fiction to me!
So, if 30 years ago I watched the show I cervelloni live, impressed by the set, the décor, and the protagonists, speaking with a lump in my throat when Paolo Bonolis asked me how I was, you can imagine how excited I am now during this tour, when we’re about to enter the studios.
What a rip-off!!! We’re not going into any studio!!!
What?!?! What do you mean?!?
Well, yes, that’s how it is: access to the studios is not allowed.
Seriously?!? Then what are we supposed to see besides a few buildings from the outside???
Well, we see walls… and after that we see a fake neighborhood from a successful Italian sitcom.
I’m exaggerating when I say “neighborhood”: there are just two house façades, with a tiny courtyard and a gate. The guide opens the door of the main house to show us that there’s nothing behind it. We literally step out of the set, as they say.
So, this is where the exterior scenes are filmed, while the interiors are produced inside the studios.
And that’s it for the visit on this little patch of land.
But so that I don’t leave completely disappointed that I chose this tour, we do get something after all: we visit the only outdoor set that has remained standing since it was built, because it’s still used as a filming location for many movies.
And the cool part is that here we’re actually allowed to take photos yuhuuu!
THE HBO SERIES “ROME”
We are in Ancient Rome.
A “fake city” built outdoors, but it looks amazing! Buildings, streets, squares, an amphitheater, the Senate, temples, a triumphal arch, statues… a real Ancient Rome where the HBO/BBC series “Rome” was filmed.
The Americans started building this set in 2003, and the series was filmed between 2004 and 2005.
They recreated the Forum, Subura (a popular neighborhood, something like the “slums” of Rome), and other areas of the ancient city, on an enormous scale! The actors said they could walk for hundreds of meters through the constructed city without ever leaving the set.
I stroll around like a ruler (well, like Caesar) through the greenery and admire every little corner.
Most of the elements imitate real historical buildings, but there are some exceptions:
The Senate, for example (photo on the left), has nothing to do with reality. The model used for it was actually… the Pantheon in Rome (photo on the right).
Meanwhile, the real Senate building, the one in the Forum near the Colosseum, is much simpler (the building in the center of the image).
The cobblestone streets look completely authentic!
But how do you think they were made? The crew took seven molds of stones from the Via Appia in Rome and… replicated them in concrete! And honestly, you’d never guess they aren’t real stones. They even look different! When in fact there are just seven basic models. Pretty impressive, right?
I tap on walls and columns – they sound hollow… Many of them are made of fiberglass. And wood with cardboard.
The streets we see were adapted depending on the production – the house façades were decorated in all sorts of ways, sometimes trees were added, and some streets were even filled with water, turning them into Venetian canals!
There’s even an amphitheater, but we’re not allowed to enter it, I don’t know why. I sneak a quick photo of it, as best I can.
I read that the Forum built here was about 60% the size of the real one! I say “was”, because disaster struck the fake city: a powerful fire destroyed a large part of it in 2007.
What survived the fire at Cinecittà was reused or modified for other historical productions filmed here.
I ask how this area is used when there are no shoots, and the guide tells me it can also be rented for events – weddings, christenings, family parties… Just saying, in case anyone’s interested!
In any case, the sets built for the series Rome were among the largest ever constructed at Cinecittà and helped strengthen the studios’ reputation for major historical productions (think Gladiator or Ben-Hur – famous for its chariot race arena, considered one of the largest practical sets ever built!).
Curious by nature, I do a quick search to see which film actually tops the list of the biggest sets built here.
Cleopatra (1963) – the one with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, and others. For that film they built entire cities – Rome and Alexandria – at enormous costs that almost bankrupted the Fox studios…
The tour lasted 40 minutes. Pretty quick! After that, I made a stop at the souvenir shop, which is also full of old equipment used in film productions.
Besides a bit of shopping, you can stay at Cinecittà to eat or drink something at the courtyard brasserie, revisit the museums without the pressure of time, or simply lie back on one of the benches in the sun, enjoying a kind of quiet that has nothing to do with the bustle in the middle of Rome.
And speaking of the almost nonexistent quiet in Rome, I invite you to see a side of the city that I don’t think we’ll ever experience again: Rome during the pandemic.
