The Ministry of Culture will provide €12 million to build a new storage facility for the Cineteca Nazionale, Italy’s national film archive, at the former 8th Cerimant barracks at Via Prenestina 931 in Rome. The agreement for the construction of the storage facility was announced in Rome on November 9, 2026, by the Ministry in conjunction with the State Property Agency (Agenzia del Demanio) and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
Building “E” of the former barracks will house the Cineteca’s entire collection of nitrate films: 28,000 cans and 9,500 film elements spanning from 1896 to the early 1950s, from the Lumière brothers and Fregoli to the negatives of “Rome, Open City”. Because nitrate is fragile and highly flammable, the facility will be equipped with fire protection systems and spaces designed specifically for its preservation. Yet the value of these films goes far beyond the symbolic. As Massimo Osanna, head of the Department for Cultural Activities, pointed out, they are often the copies closest to the original, preserving details of colour, editing and processing that no duplicate can fully reproduce. Keeping them intact is therefore essential if they are to be restored.
The State Property Agency is the contracting authority and will handle design and construction. The Special Superintendency of Rome will manage the funding, while the Centro Sperimentale will be given use of the building. For Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, the project combines heritage protection with urban regeneration, with a particular focus on young people.
The facility is the first step in a wider programme to redevelop the former 8th Cerimant barracks in the Tor Sapienza district, which was badly damaged during the Second World War and has been abandoned ever since. The memorandum of understanding signed in December 2024 by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Culture, the Minister for Public Administration, Rome City Council and the State Property Agency provides for the area to be transformed into an administrative, cultural and creative hub, with spaces for contemporary art, cinema, the performing arts and public use. The site is already part of the Ministry’s “Recovery Art” project, funded by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), and the aim is to make culture a driver of revival in Rome’s eastern outskirts.
On the same day, at the opening of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia’s academic year, a further memorandum of understanding was presented, promoted by Undersecretary of State for Culture Lucia Borgonzoni. Signed by the Ministry of Culture, the La Biennale di Venezia Foundation and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Foundation, it provides for three scholarships and twenty artistic training programmes in memory of the six young Italian victims of the Crans-Montana tragedy. It will give young people hands-on professional experience and the chance to develop their talent.
Photo credit: Ministero della Cultura via Wikimedia Commons
