Theme Parks in Rome
All the fun of the "fiera"

By Emiliano Pretto
february 2009

One theme park will depict life in Ancient Rome, complete with gladiators, centurions and the Colosseum, Cinecittà World will take visitors on fantastic journeys of movie magic and entertainment, while the entertainment park of Terra Magica will be second in size in Europe only to Disneyland Resort Paris.

Announcing plans to build a vast ancient Rome theme park just outside the city, Rome Deputy Mayor Mauro Cutrufo said the model was Disneyland Paris. The park is to be built on a 500-hectare site north of the city just outside the GRA orbital highway. It will provide family-friendly attractions to show visitors what life was like in the Rome of 2,000 years ago.
Visitors will be offered rides through a replica of the Colosseum, where they can watch gladiators fighting each other or wild animals, as the Emperor looks on. The park will offer attractions based on life both in republican Rome, ending with the murder of Julius Caesar and civil war, and the power and might of the Roman Empire.

Mr Cutrufo said it has been calculated the park would bring at least an extra five million people a year to the Eternal City. He added that work on the project, scheduled to begin later this year, would take “three to four years”.
Work on the two other theme parks is already well underway. Both are being built outside Rome near to major shopping malls and designer outlets that already attract huge numbers of visitors from the capital.
Cinecittà World, at Castel Romano just 25 kms from Rome city centre, will be the only cinema themed park in Europe and is based in part on Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles.

The project is being developed by Rome’s legendary Cinecittà studios, where screen classics like “Ben Hur”, “Cleopatra” and “Roman Holiday” were filmed. More than 3,000 movies have been made at Cinecittà . The list also includes Fellini's “La Dolce Vita” and “Satyricon,”, Anthony Minghella's multi Oscar-winning “The English Patient”, Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” and Martin Scorsese's “Gangs of New York”.

Cinecittà World, which will cover 60 hectares and is expected to attract an estimated two and half million visitors a year, is due for completion in 2011.
The Terra Magica (Magic Land) theme park will open next year at Valmontone in the Roman Hills some 40 kms outside the capital within easy access of the Rome-Naples state highway. The park, rising next to the huge Valmontone Fashion District Outlet, will include three rollercoasters, two water rides, theatres and an indoor ice-skating arena in six themed areas linked by 18kms of internal roadways. Terra Magica will be Europe’s second-largest theme park after Disneyland Paris. Enjoy!