A fire broke out on Monday at Italy’s legendary Cinecittà Studios in Rome.
According to local reports, the flames — which erupted on a set depicting Renaissance Florence in the process of being decommissioned — were soon brought under control by three teams of firefighters, and didn’t result in any injuries or major damage.
“The fire has been extinguished. There are no injuries, no poisoning, no serious material damage,” Studios spokesperson Marlon Pellegrini said in a statement.
Despite not causing any major damage, the fire did disrupt the start of filming of Netflix’s The Old Guard 2, starring Charlize Theron. Production coordinator Natalia Barbosa told AFP that high winds and soaring temperatures saw the fire grow rapidly, with the set evacuated as a precaution. “We’ve lost two days of filming,” she said.
While the cause of the fire hasn’t been ascertained, Italy, like much of Europe, has been experiencing a severe drought due to record-breaking summer temperatures.
First opened in 1937 to produce propaganda for Benito Mussolini’s Fascist government, Cinecittà — which also suffered a major fire in 2007 — has provided the backdrop for thousands of films, including Ben Hur and La Dolce Vita.
