ROME, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - A large fire broke out at a hangar in Italy's renowned Cinecitta film studios, but no deaths or injuries have been reported so far, local media said Friday.
The fire burned down a total of 4,000 square meters (32,000 square feet) Thursday night and completely destroyed a set depicting ancient Rome being used for a movie production about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze Friday morning and prevented it from spreading to the historical part of the 70-year-old studio, where sets for Federico Fellini's "And the Ship Sails On" and William Wyler's "Ben Hur" have been stored.
The studios were founded by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and were inaugurated April 28, 1936. Cinecitta was the filming location for the movies of Federico Fellini, Alessandro Blasetti, Roberto Rosselini, Vittorio De Sica and Martin Scorsese.
