Last week the world-famous Cinecitta movie studios in Rome was badly damaged by fire. The blaze broke out in the lots being used for filming the production "Rome," which tells the story of the rise of the great Roman empire. Flames said to be more than 40 metres high quickly destroyed a hangar which stored set decorations to be used in the production, and went on to attack other buildings.Guido Parisi, Rome's fire chief, said: "The fire has destroyed the set of ancient Rome, an area more than 4,000 square metres."
Cinecitta is a huge complex of more than 40 hectares a few kilometres from the centre of Rome. Thousands of films have been made at Cinecitta, including William Wyler's "Ben Hur" in 1958, and Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" and "Cleopatra" in the 1960s.
