Italy's cinecittà world theme park opens

Photo: ThemeParkItalia.com

The attraction, inspired by the country's legendary film studio of the same name, has rides based upon the thousands of movies filmed in Rome's studios, as well as other Italian genres.

Visitors enter through the Temple of Moloch seen in 1914's Cabiria, a silent film shot in Turin, while other rides and "sets" range from a 1920s Manhattan recreation to a bustling submarine where background extras try to save the world from disaster.

Film stars are not just evoked by the attractions, though: some were involved in the collosal project. Indeed, Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone, who scored Spaghetti Westerns such as Once Upon a Time in the West, has written some music for the park, while three-time Academy Award-winning production designer Dante Ferretti helped to design the park.

While it has not replaced the original studios - it is located approximately 16 miles from them, notes the New York Times - there has been some criticism of the $338 million development. Indeed, the amount dwarves the $67.6 million spent by Cinecittà's owners, Italian Entertainment Group, on the studio since it was privatised in 1997.

"If Italy wants to have a future it has to bring the citizens of the world to Rome to enjoy many different kinds of beauty, including a movie theme park," Luigi Abete, the president of IEG, which controls both Cinecittà Studios and Cinecittà World, told the Times. "We’re investing in entertainment as a highway for development in Italy."

Nonetheless, the ambitious spend may well be worth it, argues Abete.

"The average tourist spends five days in Paris but two and a half days in Rome," he noted. "After they opened the Disney theme park outside Paris, the average stay went up."

The park is expected to attract 1.5 million visitors a year.