It’s been the setting for 47 Hollywood blockbusters and is loved by film directors from Federico Fellini, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, but now it will be soon be graced by the pinnacle of Royalty too.
The Cinecittà film studios, in Rome, the Italian capital, is where classics such as La Dolce Vita – in which Anita Ekberg famously cavorted in the water – and 1959 masterpiece Ben-Hur were filmed.
Tomorrow it will be after-party setting for a glittering cast of celebrities and royalty as Harry and Meghan lead the guest list at tonight’s wedding of friend Misha Nonoo who is to marry her oil tycoon boyfriend.
It’s been the setting for 47 Hollywood blockbusters and is loved by film directors from Federico Fellini, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, but now it will be soon be graced by the pinnacle of Royalty too
The Cinecittà film studios, in Rome, the Italian capital, is where classics such as La Dolce Vita – in which Anita Ekberg famously cavorted in the water – and 1959 masterpiece Ben-Hur (the mammoth set at Cinecittà pictured above) were filmed
Tomorrow Cinecittà will be after-party setting for a glittering cast of celebrities and royalty as Harry and Meghan lead the guest list at tonight’s wedding of friend Misha Nonoo who is to marry her oil tycoon boyfriend. The Duke and Duchess are in Rome without baby Archie to see Misha, 31, tie the knot with Mikey Hess, 33, who is worth $1.9billion (£1.5billion)
The Duke and Duchess are in Rome without baby Archie to see Misha, 31, tie the knot with Mikey Hess, 33, who is worth $1.9billion (£1.5billion).
The couple will walk down the aisle as the sun goes down at Villa Aurelia, a baroque villa and vineyard once owned Pope Paolo III that sits on one of Rome’s seven hills and enjoys extraordinary panoramic views of the Eternal City.
And then Cinecittà will host the newly-married couple and their hundreds of guests tomorrow.
Cinecittà was the setting for the famous scene in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (left), in which the late Anita Ekberg starred as a movie star. Above: Ekberg wades through the cold waters of the Trevi fountain. It was also where Elizabeth Taylor starred in Cleopatra (right)
Cleopatra, which was made at Cinecittà in 1963, became famous for both the off-screen affair between future husband and wife Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and for nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox
The relationship between Burton and Taylor blossomed both on and off the screen and the pair began an affair which made headlines worldwide
Cleopatra became notorious during its production because of enormous cost overruns and trouble behind the scenes including a change in director and and a change in script
Despite it being the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release, it was however the highest grossing film of 1963 and brough in $57.7million in the U.S. and Canada
Burton and Taylor went on to have a tempestuous relationship off-screen. They were married – and divorced – twice. Above: The pair starring in Cleopatra at Cinecittà
More than 3,000 movies have been filmed there and it is so loved by directors that it has earned the nickname ‘Hollywood on the Tiber.’
The film studio, which is the the largest in continental Europe, sits hidden among quiet suburbs 5.6 miles to the south-west of Rome.
It sprawls across an area of 99 acres and has a production community of 5,000 multilingual specialists, allowing it to live up to its name, which translates as ‘Cinema City’.
The studios were founded by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 and their original purpose was to be used to make fascist propaganda films.
There are thought to be 100,000 pre-war news reels stored within the vaults at the studio.
Attention was drawn to Cinecittà when Roberto Rossellini’s classic war movie, Rome Citta Aperta, was made in January 1945.
The 1959 classic Ben-Hur starred Hollywood great Charlton Heston and was directed by William Wyler. It was one of the first Hollywood films to be made at Cinecittà
Ben-Hur tells the tell of an aristocratic Jew who is forced into slavery after incurring the wrath of a childhood friend who had become a Roman official. The film had a cast of 10,000 extras and its budget exceeded $15million
More than 300 sets were produced for the film, including an artificial lake. The finished amalgamated set covered more than 18 acres and was the largest ever to have been built for a film
Today, Ben-Hur remains the standout achievement of Cinecittà, with its runaway box office success earning it and the previously in-trouble MGM more than $90million
It won the Grand Prize at the prestigious Cannes film festival and its success turned the spotlight on the Cinecittà as a cheaper alternative to Hollywood.
By the end of the 1950s, films which are now known as classics, including Roman Holiday (1953), Helen of Troy (1959), and Ben-Hur (1959), had been made there.
The latter, directed by William Wyler and starring acting legend Charlton Heston, had a cast of thousands of extras who descended on Rome for the production.
More than 300 sets – including an artificial lake – and 100,000 costumes were used, while the budget exceeded $15million.
The finished set covered more than 18 acres and was the largest ever to have been built for a film.
Today, Ben-Hur remains the standout achievement of Cinecittà, with its runaway box office success earning it and the previously in-trouble MGM more than $90million.
In Fellini’s 1961 classic, restless reporter Marcello Rubini, played by Marcello Mastrioianni, pursues heiress Maddalena and movie star Sylvia, who was famously played by the late Anita Ekberg
More recently, Cinecittà was the setting for the filming of 2003 movie Gangs of New York, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis (pictured)
Four years later, Cleopatra was made at Cinecittà and the film became famous for both the off-screen affair between future husband and wife Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and for nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox.
Perhaps most high profile was Federico Fellini’s production La Dolce Vita, which starred the late Anita Ekberg, who played a movie star.
The film brought in more than $19million at the box office and was seen as the bridge between Italian Neorealist cinema and more modern films.
And despite it being Fellini’s most successful film, it was condemned by the Vatican because of its frequent scenes of sex and drugs.
Fellini developed a love for the Rome studio and famously called it ‘my idea world, the cosmic space before the big bang’.
Today, the studio is under pressure from other, cheaper alternatives elsewhere in Europe.
More recent films include 2003 movie Gangs of New York, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis.
In 2009, an $800million theme park based on the studio was announced, with the hope that bosses could capitalise on its previous achievements.