Cinecittà World · western area · 2014

Far West

A western village in the Italian spaghetti-western tradition, built from scratch on a yard and then lent to cinema.

Act one

Sergio Leone's
spaghetti West.

When Dante Ferretti designs the Far West area of Cinecittà World, he doesn't look at the American West of John Ford's films. He looks at the Italian West: the spaghetti western, the genre that Cinecittà exported to the entire world between 1964 and 1976 with Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Sergio Sollima. Dust, high sun, dryness — an America of sun and bad men.

The park's village is built from scratch, ready for 24 July 2014: a dusty square with stockades, saloon, sheriff, bank, blacksmith, warehouse, the small wooden church with the bell, a cemetery at the back. The signs hand-painted in 19th-century style: "Cooperative", "Sheriff", "Warehouse", "Black Smith". Nothing plastic, nothing prefabricated — it is set-grade scenography, built with set-grade crafts.

Above the village, the great central square is the stage of the live stunt show "Motori, ciak... azione!": gunslingers, can-can dancers, falls from windows, horse chases. The audience stands all around the square, under the sun.

The Far West village at Cinecittà World photographed for the Creation Art portfolio: dark wooden buildings with overhang, first-floor balcony above a shop; white church with small bell tower and cross on the right; wooden cart between the buildings; metal frame of the haunted house visible at the back right — The Far West village — from the Creation Art portfolio

View of the Far West village at Cinecittà World: wooden buildings with 'Black Smith', 'Sheriff', 'Warehouse' signs, church with bell on the right, stockades, wooden cart at the centre, white dust on the ground — The village: Blacksmith, Sheriff, Warehouse, church

'Motori, ciak... azione!' stunt show in the Far West square, two actors at the centre, large audience in a circle around, wooden buildings in the background — The stunt show in the square

Actor in sheriff costume with star on chest and black hat hands a banknote to a child over a wooden fence, with the village cooperative in the background — The sheriff at the fence

Act two

From park to film:
Django Undisputed.

The story doesn't end with the park's opening. After a few years, the Far West village stops being just an attraction and becomes again a cinema set. The production Saturnia Pictures chooses the park's village to shoot Django Undisputed, a western feature film directed by Claudio Del Falco, with Fabio Testi, Tomas Arana and Francesca Giuliano in the cast.

It is the perfect loop of the Cinecittà World project: Ferretti builds a theme-park area inspired by cinema, and then that set is reused by real cinema. Same thing that had happened to Cinecittà Street, set of Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2001) turned into a park boulevard in 2014. Here we start from the park and go to cinema. Round-trip between built fiction and shot fiction.

Our production photo below shows exactly one of these moments: gunslingers on horses, dust high in the air, and in the background the number 5 painted on one of the park's soundstages. Cinema within cinema.

Far West set with five actors on horseback: gunslinger in the foreground firing with raised pistol, white horse rearing at the centre, two dark horses around, white dust, in the background a soundstage with a large '5' painted on the wall — Far West set: gunslingers on horseback, soundstage in the background

Behind the scenes

One square,
two uses.

The Far West areas of Cinecittà World have a double life. When the park is open they are attractions and stunt-show sets, animated by actors in costume — sheriffs, gunslingers, dancers, cowboys. When the park is closed they become film locations: the square, the stockades, the buildings serve cinema exactly as a soundstage would. It is the core idea of Cinecittà World — a theme park that is also a great permanent shooting set.

Far West set: gunslingers on horseback in the dust, western buildings and soundstage with large number 5 painted on the wall in the background — The Far West village as a set: five horses in action, soundstage in the background.

2014 opening of the Far West village · with the park inauguration on 24 July

6+ attractions and shows in the area: Horror House · Rodeo · Aqua Rodeo · Western Train · Stunt Show · Assassin's Creed (VR)

1 film shot on the set after opening: Django Undisputed · Saturnia Pictures · Fabio Testi, Tomas Arana

On the Far West something new began —
the village isn't just for the audience,
it's also for film-makers.

From the construction story Cinecittà World · Far West, 2014

Tech sheet

All production data

Type: Theme-park themed area · walkable western village + stunt show + film location
Location: Cinecittà World · Castel Romano, Rome
Public opening: 24 July 2014 · with the park's opening
Park artistic direction: Dante Ferretti, three-time Academy Award winner
Narrative theme: Italian spaghetti western · the legacy of Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Sergio Sollima
Village buildings: Saloon · Sheriff · Bank · Black Smith · Warehouse · Cooperative · Church with bell · cemetery · stockades · ranch
Materials: Treated and aged wood structures · hand-painted signs · white dust on the ground · film-set finishes
Area attractions and shows: Motori, ciak... azione! (live stunt show) · Horror House · Rodeo (bumper cars) · Aqua Rodeo · Western Train · Assassin's Creed (later addition, VR experience)
Post-opening film set: Django Undisputed by Claudio Del Falco · production Saturnia Pictures · cast Fabio Testi, Tomas Arana, Francesca Giuliano · spaghetti-western setting
Cluster: Part of Cinecittà World
Our role: Scenographic work for the park's Far West village: wooden building façades with set finish, painted and aged signs ("Black Smith", "Sheriff", "Warehouse", "Cooperative"), surrounding architectural elements (stockades, fences, wooden cart, benches, fire escapes). Cinecittà World is listed in the Creation Art portfolio as a theme-park project under Dante Ferretti's artistic direction.
Second life: Far West area on stage every park open day since 2014 · also used as a film set for Django Undisputed and other contemporary spaghetti westerns

Second life

The spaghetti western
running year-round.

The Far West area of Cinecittà World has a dual destiny: theme-park attraction and reusable cinema set. Since 2014 it has been running as a walkable western village for visitors, with the stunt show "Motori, ciak... azione!", the Western Train, the Rodeo. At the same time, it is used as a location for contemporary spaghetti westerns — most notably Claudio Del Falco's Django Undisputed with Fabio Testi and Tomas Arana.

Our hand on the Far West scenography is the controlled aging of the wood and the hand-painting of the signs — the same technical grammar of our work for Gangs of New York and for the Cinecittà Street sets, applied however to the Italian western mythology (Leone, Corbucci, Sollima) rather than Victorian New York.

Far West

One square,two uses.

The spaghetti westernrunning year-round.

One square,
two uses.

The spaghetti western
running year-round.