ROME (Hollywood Today/AFP 8/11/07 -A short circuit may have been the cause of a spectacular fire overnight at the legendary Cinecitta film studios in Rome, firefighters said Friday.

The fire apparently broke out in a warehouse where the sets of the Anglo-American television blockbuster “Rome” were stored before spreading to other buildings in the vast complex on the outskirts of the Italian capital.

“The flames, maybe caused by a short circuit, started in a highly flammable storage area … and it didn’t take much for everything to be reduced to ashes,” Rome fire chief Guido Parisi told reporters.

“Then the fire spread to a nearby television set, which isn’t in use during the holiday period,” he said, adding that no one was hurt in the blaze.

A little less than 40,000 square feet of the total area of 100 acres of the complex was consumed by the flames, which reached up to 40 meters high.

The studios, located a few miles from the historic center of Rome, celebrated their 70th anniversary last April.

Cinecitta (literally “cinema city”), conceived as a rival to Hollywood, was inaugurated on April 28, 1937, by the dictator Benito Mussolini, who saw its potential as a propaganda tool.

By the early 1950s, American directors were here in force, taking advantage of the vast facilities as well as cost savings. Notable productions included William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” (1958) and “Quo Vadis” by Mervyn LeRoy (1949).

Italian directors also flocked to the studio, including Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio de Sica and Luchino Visconti.

But Cinecitta’s greatest champion would be Federico Fellini, who chose it for his biggest films including the iconic “La Dolce Vita” (1960) as well as “Satyricon” (1969) and “Amarcord” (1973).

Soon afterward, in the 1970s, the golden age of Cinecitta faded with the rise of television, and it nearly went bankrupt in the 1980s.

It was not until 1997 — when the studio was three-quarters privatised — that the Italian colossus began a modest recovery, once again offering lower costs, professionalism and the allure of Rome.

In 2002, Italian-American filmmaker Martin Scorsese came here to produce “Gangs of New York”, followed two years later by Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” in 2004. “Rome,” the TV series which relates the birth of the Roman empire, is the latest mega-contract.

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