Italy’s largest theme park dedicated to the cinema will open its gates in less than two years’ time. Cincecitta World, in the Castel Romano area of Rome, is set for a spring 2011 debut, and its developers hope to attract over four million guests a year.
Listed by the Municipality of Rome as a major part of its “second tourist hub,” the park will bear the signature of Dante Ferretti, the double Academy Award winner production designer who has been entrusted with the project’s creative vision.
A team lead by Valerio Mazzoli Studios, which is developing the masterplan, and Forrec, which will oversee the project, will help realise the 15-hectare park in four stages, with opening set for spring 2011. The project represents a €500 million ($755m) investment and is expected to create around 2,500 new jobs
Cinecitta World is promoted by Cinecittà Parchi. The company’s shares are split 80:20 between Cinecittà Entertainment and Generali Properties. Cinecittà Entertainment is controlled by IEG (Italian Entertainment Group), and boasts shareholders including Luigi Abete, Andrea and Diego Della Valle, Aurelio De Laurentiis and the Haggiag Family.
Located at Via Pontina, near the coast, the park will sit in the area of Castel Romano where Dino De Laurentiis built his studios in the 1960s. The second stage, set for completion by the end of 2012, will see the construction of The Village, a CityWalk-style development featuring shops, restaurants and cinemas, while for the third and fourth stages, work on which will come to a close in 2014, two further parks are planned, Cinecittà World 2 and “Cinecittà Natura, where visitors will be able to encounter live movies, with authentic sets and stage designs.
