The Most Beautiful Buildings Seen on Screen in Italy
6 places · updated 13 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful buildings seen on screen in Italy are Colosseum, La Scala and Teatro di San Carlo. The list covers 6 buildings seen on screen. Last updated 13 October 2026.
Italy has been a film set since the silent era, and its buildings explain why. Few countries can offer an ancient amphitheatre, a Baroque royal palace and a Renaissance theatre within a few hours of each other, each still standing in its original setting. Directors come for authenticity that no studio can build, and productions from Hollywood to Cinecittà have borrowed Italian interiors to stand in for imaginary kingdoms. On screen these buildings play themselves, or someone else entirely.
The Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre of the Roman world, was a backdrop for Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday. The Royal Palace of Caserta, built for the Bourbon kings of Naples, became the palace of Queen Amidala on Naboo in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Milano Centrale, the monumental railway station opened in the 1930s, offers a hall of stone and steel that suits any arrival scene.
The theatres form a story of their own. Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, opened in 1737, is the oldest opera house in Europe still in continuous use. La Scala in Milan saw the premieres of Madama Butterfly and Turandot. And the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Palladio's last work, keeps its original wooden stage set of streets receding in false perspective, the oldest surviving stage scenery of its kind.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colosseum | Archaeological site | |
| 2 | La Scala | Opera house | |
| 3 | Teatro di San Carlo | Opera house | |
| 4 | Milano Centrale | Railway station | |
| 5 | Royal Palace of Caserta | Palace | ✓ |
| 6 | Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza | Theatre building |
01 Colosseum
Colosseo
Italy · 1.2 km from Rome41.890° N 12.492° E
Image by MARTINOPHUC from Pixabay The eighty-foot drop beneath the Colosseum's sand floor is where the real machinery of the show lived.
Did you know? Since 2000, Rome has lit the Colosseum in gold whenever a death sentence anywhere in the world is commuted.
02 La Scala
Teatro alla Scala
Italy · 1.2 km from Milan45.468° N 9.189° E
Image by dimitrisvetsikas1969 from Pixabay La Scala in Milan is, for many, simply the opera house — the place where a singer's career is made or broken. It opened on 3 August 1778 with Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta, built after fire destroyed the old ducal theatre, and it takes its name from the church of Santa Maria della Scala that was demolished to make room for it.
Did you know? In its early decades the theatre also served as a casino, with gambling going on in the foyer while operas played in the hall.
03 Teatro di San Carlo
Italy · 0.8 km from Naples40.837° N 14.250° E
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 Naples' royal opera house opened on 4 November 1737, the name day of its patron, the Bourbon king Charles, with Domenico Sarro's Achille in Sciro. Designed by the Sicilian architect Giovanni Antonio Medrano and fitted out by Angelo Carasale, it replaced an older theatre that no longer suited a capital with ambitions, and it was built directly against the Royal Palace.
Did you know? With no curtains on any of its 184 boxes, the original hall ensured that no member of the audience could escape the king's gaze.
04 Milano Centrale
Stazione di Milano Centrale
Italy · 1.5 km from Milan45.486° N 9.204° E
Ludvig14 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Milano Centrale is less a railway station than a monument to arrival. Its main front, facing Piazza Duca d'Aosta, stretches about 200 metres wide and some 50 metres high, a massive stone wall of arches, columns, reliefs and sculpture that reads more like a palace or a temple than a place to catch a train.
Did you know? Its cornerstone was laid by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1906, years before any design for the building had actually been chosen.
05 Royal Palace of Caserta
Reggia di Caserta
Italy · 1.7 km from Caserta41.073° N 14.327° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by libellule789 from Pixabay The Royal Palace of Caserta was built to rival Versailles, and in sheer size it outdoes almost every royal house of the eighteenth century. Charles of Bourbon, king of Naples and later Charles III of Spain, wanted a new court and seat of government protected from attack by sea and away from crowded, restless Naples, and in 1752 work began to designs by Luigi Vanvitelli.
Did you know? King Charles laid the first stone himself on 20 January 1752, the day of his 36th birthday, yet he abdicated in 1759 and never spent a night there.
06 Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza
Teatro Olimpico
Italy45.550° N 11.549° E
Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 The Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza is the last design of Andrea Palladio and one of only three Renaissance theatres to survive, together with those of Sabbioneta and Parma. It was commissioned in 1580 by the Accademia Olimpica, the city's society of scholars and gentlemen, of which Palladio was himself a member.
Did you know? The street scenes look as if they run far into the distance, yet the sets actually recede only a few metres behind the stage wall.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful buildings seen on screen in Italy?
- On our list, Colosseum ranks first, followed by La Scala and Teatro di San Carlo.
- Which Star Wars films were shot at the Royal Palace of Caserta?
- The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002) used the palace's staircases and halls as the royal palace of Naboo.
- What is the oldest working opera house in Italy?
- Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, opened in 1737, is the oldest opera house in Europe that has remained in continuous use.
- Why is the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza special?
- Designed by Andrea Palladio and completed after his death by Vincenzo Scamozzi in 1585, it is the oldest surviving indoor theatre, with its original stage set of streets painted and built in forced perspective.
- How many buildings seen on screen are on this list in Italy?
- The list covers 6 buildings seen on screen.