ROME
A fire broke out on Monday at Rome’s legendary Cinecitta film studios, destroying a set but causing no injuries, emergency services said.
Published: 1 August 2022 18:44 CEST
A view of the damage caused by the fire at Rome’s Cinecitta studios on August 1st, 2022. Photo: Vigili del Fuoco (Italian fire brigade)
Three teams of firefighters were on the site southeast of the Italian capital, which in its heyday was frequented by some of the country’s greatest stars, from Federico Fellini to Sophia Loren.
“A fire has broken out in an area where a set was being decommissioned,” a spokesman for Cinecitta told AFP, adding that nobody was injured.
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Firefighters said “much of the papier-mache reconstruction has been destroyed” on the affected set, which depicted Renaissance Florence, but that the flames were limited and under control.
Local residents posted photos and video to social media showing thick clouds of smoke above the complex.
Fire in the studios of #Cinecittà #Roma #incendioroma # 1 August pic.twitter.com/AzddohGFnz
— Andrea Mari (@AndrewMari1988) August 1, 2022
The fire disrupted filming of a Charlize Theron movie, the sequel to Netflix film ‘The Old Guard’, according to production coordinator Natalia Barbosa.
She told AFP the fire grew rapidly amid high winds and soaring temperatures and the set was evacuated as a precaution.
“We’ve lost two days of filming,” she said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, although much of Italy is a tinderbox this summer due to heatwaves and a severe drought.
???? #Romai #fire fighters of the fire have extinguished the#fire a #Cinecittà Studios. The flames destroyed the scenography of the old set of Assisi and Florence. The work of the remediation teams continues [#1agosto 17:30] pic.twitter.com/ekJKKtARvH
– Fire Brigade (@vigilidelfuoco) August 1, 2022
Cinecitta suffered a major fire in August 2007, in a warehouse where the sets of television blockbuster ‘Rome’ were stored, before spreading to other buildings in the vast complex.
Cinecitta – which means ‘city of cinema’ in Italian – has been the backdrop of more than 3,000 films, including 51 Oscar winners.
The studios were opened in 1937 to churn out propaganda for the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini.
They were later used to make such classics as William Wyler’s ‘Ben-Hur’ in 1959 and Fellini’s 1960 ‘La Dolce Vita’.
In recent decades, major productions have become more scarce, although the studios are planning a major makeover using money from the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery fund.