
Cinecittà
Working film studio with tours where Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Ben-Hur, and Cleopatra were all shot.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Cinecitta in Rome opens with Mussolini's 1937 studio built to out-glamour Hollywood with fascist epics, and traces what actually happened on these soundstages instead, through the war years and their aftermath. It follows the studio's postwar reinvention when American productions arrived, including Ben-Hur and Cleopatra, and the famous off-screen romance that grew up alongside the Cleopatra shoot. It also follows Federico Fellini, who kept a permanent office here for decades and built entire Roman streets inside these walls rather than filming the real thing.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana
Arcaded travertine palace built as the centerpiece of a fascist world's fair that was never held.
Foro Italico
Fascist-era sports complex whose towering obelisk still bears Mussolini's name carved in marble.
Stadio Olimpico
Fascist-era arena turned Olympic venue, now shared by Italy's most passionate football rivals.
Via dei Fori Imperiali
Broad fascist-era boulevard lined with Imperial Forum ruins and bronze statues of Roman emperors.
Piazza Venezia
Busy crossroads anchored by a Renaissance palace whose balcony Mussolini used for wartime speeches.
Ara Pacis Museum
Roman altar of Augustan peace, with marble imperial procession reliefs, housed in a glass pavilion.