Editing Cinema of Italy (section)

====Cinecittà (1930s–present)====
{{main|Cinecittà}}
[[File:Ingressostorico cinecitta.jpg|thumb|Entrance to the [[Cinecittà]] in Rome, the largest film studio in [[Europe]]<ref name="ciakmagazine"/>]]

In 1934, the Italian government created the General Directorate for Cinema (''Direzione Generale per le Cinematografia''), and appointed [[Luigi Freddi]] its director. With the approval of [[Benito Mussolini]], this directorate called for the establishment of a town southeast of Rome devoted exclusively to cinema, dubbed the [[Cinecittà]] ("Cinema City"), under the slogan "''Il cinema è l'arma più forte''" ("Cinema is the most powerful weapon").<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/10792398/Cinecitta-studios-Google-Doodle-celebrates-77th-anniversary.html |title = Cinecittà studios: Google Doodle celebrates 77th anniversary|date = 2014-04-28|last1 = Kinder|first1 = Lucy}}</ref> The studios were constructed during the [[Fascist era]] as part of a plan to revive the Italian film industry, which had reached its low point in 1931.<ref name="Ricci2008">{{cite book|last=Ricci|first=Steven|title=Cinema and Fascism: Italian Film and Society, 1922–1943|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tuq7FNacGvgC&pg=PA66|date=1 February 2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-94128-1|pages=68–69–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943|last=Garofalo|first=Piero|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2002|editor-last=Reich|editor-first=Jacqueline|location=Bloomington|pages=223–249|chapter=Seeing Red: The Soviet Influence on Italian Cinema in the Thirties|editor-last2=Garofalo|editor-first2=Piero|isbn=978-0253215185}}</ref>

Mussolini himself inaugurated the studios on 21 April 1937.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PiTBFMc7tp4C|publisher = Continuum|date = 2001|isbn = 9780826412478|language = en|first = Peter E.|last = Bondanella|page = 13}}</ref> Post-production units and sets were constructed and heavily used initially. Early films such as ''[[Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal|Scipio Africanus]]'' (1937) and ''[[The Iron Crown]]'' (1941) showcased the technological advancement of the studios. Seven thousand people were involved in the filming of the battle scene from ''Scipio Africanus'', and live elephants were brought in as a part of the re-enactment of the [[Battle of Zama]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bondanella|first=Peter|title=Italian Cinema From Neorealism to the Present|publisher=The Continuum Publishing Company|year=1995|page=19|isbn=978-0826404268}}</ref>

The Cinecittà provided everything necessary for filmmaking: theatres, technical services, and even a cinematography school, the [[Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia]], for younger apprentices. The Cinecittà studios were Europe's most advanced production facilities and greatly boosted the technical quality of Italian films.<ref name=katz /> Many films are still shot entirely in Cinecittà. Benito Mussolini founded Cinecittà studio also for the production of [[Propaganda in Fascist Italy|Fascist propaganda]] until [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/italians/resources/Amiciprize/1996/mussolini.html |title=The Cinema Under Mussolini |publisher=Ccat.sas.upenn.edu |access-date=30 October 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100731200507/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/italians/resources/Amiciprize/1996/mussolini.html |archive-date=31 July 2010}}</ref>

During this period, Mussolini's son, [[Vittorio Mussolini|Vittorio]], created a national production company and organized the work of noted authors, directors and actors (including even some political opponents), thereby creating an interesting communication network among them, which produced several noted friendships and stimulated cultural interaction.

With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is still the largest film studio in [[Europe]],<ref name="ciakmagazine">{{cite web|url=https://www.ciakmagazine.it/news/cinecitta-ce-laccordo-per-espandere-gli-studios-italiani/|title=Cinecittà, c'è l'accordo per espandere gli Studios italiani|date=30 December 2021 |access-date=10 September 2022|language=it}}</ref> and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. Filmmakers such as [[Federico Fellini]], [[Roberto Rossellini]], [[Luchino Visconti]], [[Sergio Leone]], [[Bernardo Bertolucci]], [[Francis Ford Coppola]], [[Martin Scorsese]], and [[Mel Gibson]] have worked at Cinecittà. More than 3,000 movies have been filmed there, of which 90 received an [[Academy Award]] nomination and 47 of these won it.<ref>[https://sites.google.com/site/enciclopediadelcinemaitaliano/home/13-i-film-girati-a-cinecitta Enciclopedia del cinema italiano "i Film girati a Cinecitta' dal 1937 al 1978"]</ref>