For the exhibition “Cinecittà si mostra – Cinecittà Shows Off” Rome’s Cinecittà Studios will be open to the public 

Cinecittà are one of the most world famous  studios, the place where have been made films that are in the history of motion picture like Ben Hur and La Dolce Vita.

During the 70+ years of its history more than 3000 movies have been made at Cinecittà, 48 of which received an Oscar Award and 83 that had an Oscar Nomination.

Starting April 29 to 30 November 2011 Cinecittà will be open to the public for an exhibition that will show, among other, the sets of Imperial Rome and the 19^th century city made for Gangs of New York.

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But why is Cinecittà so famous ? 

Cinecittà  studios were built in 1936-37 during the Fascist era and inaugurated with a grandiose celebration by Benito Mussolini.  Immediately the studios started its production, especially historical dramas and propaganda films.

After the end of World War II, many American filmmakers began arriving at Cinecittà thanks to its reputation for creative talents and production cost much lower than in the US. In the 1950s Cinecittà became known as "Hollywood on the Tiber".

In the Roman studios were filmed some movies that made the history of the motion picture and some of the greatest directors of all times worked there: Hollywood names like Wyler and Mankiewicz and Italians like Fellini, Visconti, De Sica and Sergio Leone who realized there many of its spaghetti western.

Some of the movies made at Cinecittà include:

Quo vadis? (Mervyn Loy, 1951)

Bellissima (L.Visconti 1951)

Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953)

The Barefoot Contessa (juveph L. Mankiewicz, 1954)

Helen of Troy (Robert Wise, 1956)

War and Peace (King Vidor, 1956)

The Quiet American (juveph L. Mankiewicz, 1958)

Ben Hur (William Wyler, 1959)

The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann, 1959)

La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life, F.Fellini 1959)

Cleopatra (juveph L. Mankiewicz, 1963)

For a Few Dollars More (S.Leone, 1964)

The Pink Panther (Bake Edwards, 1965)

The Agony and the Ecstasy (Carol Reed, 1965)

Romeo and Juliet (F.Zeffirelli, 1968)

Once Upon a Time in the West (S.Leone, 1968)

Death in Venice (L.Visconti, 1971)

Amarcord (F.Fellini, 1973)

The Last Emperor, (B.Bertolucci, 1987)

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (T.Gilliam, 1988)

The Godfather Part III (F.F.Coppola, 1989)

Il Postino (M.Radford, 1994)

 The English Patient (A.Minghella 1996)

Life is Beautiful (R.Benigni, 1997)

Besieged (B.Bertolucci, 1998)

The Talented Mr. Ripley (A.Minghella, 1998)

 Gangs of New York (M.Scorsese, 2002)

Under the Tuscan Sun (A.Wells, 2002)

The Passion of the Christ (M.Gibson, 2004)

Mission Impossible 3 (J.J.Abrams, 2006)

Rome (HBO TV Serial)

Today the studios of Cinecittà are the largest in continental Europe and continue to produce movies for the Italian and international audiences.

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