Here’s some irony for you: Last Thursday, Cinecitta, the Italian film studio that survived its creator Benito Mussolini, the Fiat, the shame of Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers and Ilona “Cicciolina” Staller (the porn star who got elected to Parliament) has been gutted by a fire [insert joke about Nero, fiddle and Rome ablaze here.] The famous studio, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in April, was home to classic productions like Ben-Hur and La Dolce Vita, as well as more recent affairs like Gangs Of New York and The Passion Of The Christ. The fire broke out in a warehouse that stored old film prints (which are notoriously flammable), though studio honchos speculate that it was a short circuit which started the blaze, the destructive effect of which was limited to the warehouse in which sets for the late, big-budget HBO series “Rome” were stored.