Ancient Rome in the Vogue

A new cultural theme park is in the pipeline that will draw on Italy's historic heritage.

From TV-set to Theme Park
Ancient Rome of Cineccitta is the setting for the Emmy Award-winning historical drama, produced in Italy for TV by the BBC (UK), HBO (USA) and RAI (Italy).  The series depicts the transformation of the republic into an empire spiced with love, crime and toil. The production set has 20,00 square metres of streets, squares, temples, shops, jails and hospitals in the ancient Roman style, besides 10,000 reconstructed costumes. Key persons such as Mr. Saccà from RAI Fiction reasoned that this film set-up would be of interest to tourists once the TV-series was completed. He therefore contacted American HBO and British BBC. They were both supportive and have contributed large sums of money towards an Ancient Roman Theme Park. Negotiations are now taking place with the regional authorities, which so far have been positive. As President of the Lazio region Storace says: "Italy is by nature a land of narration."

So it looks as if the fictional Rome will be dismantled and reassembled on a new site in the Lazio region as soon as filming is completed.

Other upcoming theme parks in Europe are:

• Dracula Park at Sighisoara in Romania
• Grutas Park, a Soviet Siberian Labour camp among statues of Lenin and Stalin
• And a Charles Dickens Park opened this spring in England.

Rome on DVD
The complete first season on DVD: "Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic, Rome is the wealthiest city in the world, a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people; epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition, never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now, those foundations are crumbling, eaten away by corruption and excess."

The complete second season on DVD: "The year is 44 B.C. -- Julius Caesar has been assassinated and civil war threatens to destroy the Republic. In the void left by Caesar's demise, egos clash and numerous players jockey for position. The brutally ambitious Mark Antony attempts to solidify his power, aligning himself with Atia, but coming to blows with her cunning son Octavian, who has been anointed in Caesar's will as his only son and heir."

Related information
Rome TV-series on DVD's