It’s not worth entering the place though, you can see what you need to see from the roadside, not worth paying to get in.
What about the “Cortijo del Fraile”, the monastery of “Quien sabe”, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” etc.? Outside of the tourists main interests, still in good shape…
The best option for filming a western might be to take a look at some of the “locations” websites, which do have a lot of actual comparison shots…
Take a look at this thread: http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,1276.0.html
Thanks for the help everyone!
I already mentioned this location in my previous post. Although, I think I misspelled the name!
From a distance, outside, this place still looks impressive; but, it wouldn’t make a suitable place for filming.
The problem with Cortijo del Fraile is that it is becoming more and more unsafe. In 2004, I was with a group that shot a small portion of a film there and at that time the walls and ceilings were falling—even while we were trying to shoot some footage.
When I returned there the next year—many more sections of the buildings had become rubble. And I am sure that the deterioration hasn’t halted.
Even now, there are a couple of groups lobbying in Spain to try to have the place restored–while there is another group trying to have the place condemned as unsafe.
I hope the groups that are trying to preserve the beautiful historical site win, of course! But, if they do, then the location won’t be suitable for filming, again, for many years while they do the restoration work there.
When i went there in 2005 it was falling to bits but you could go inside, when i went with fellow forum members in 2008 it was even more decrepid and was fenced off.
Large sections had also fallen down that were still up in 2005.
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:24, topic:1628”]I already mentioned this location in my previous post. Although, I think I misspelled the name!
From a distance, outside, this place still looks impressive; but, it wouldn’t make a suitable place for filming.
The problem with Cortijo del Fraile is that it is becoming more and more unsafe. In 2004, I was with a group that shot a small portion of a film there and at that time the walls and ceilings were falling—even while we were trying to shoot some footage.
When I returned there the next year—many more sections of the buildings had become rubble. And I am sure that the deterioration hasn’t halted.
Even now, there are a couple of groups lobbying in Spain to try to have the place restored–while there is another group trying to have the place condemned as unsafe.
I hope the groups that are trying to preserve the beautiful historical site win, of course! But, if they do, then the location won’t be suitable for filming, again, for many years while they do the restoration work there.[/quote]
Didn’t see that you already mentioned it. Sad to read this. Let’s hope the best for this really nice and historic building…
Yes, it is a very sad situation. I, too, am hoping they will find the funds they need to restore this wonderful building!
aside from the fact that it doesn’t exist anymore, as to the where: it was in/near Canale Monterano which is a spa/ressort area outside of Rome. I bet if you’d ask old folks there someone might remember, but as Chris had pointed out, there’s likely no trace of the studio left, maybe there’s not a hotel or houses or something.
Edit: Created a database entry. And I reached out to some Italian sources. Either someone will know where it was, or I am gonna email the city where it was supposedly and ask if they know or have official records showing where it was located.
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https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Cave_Film_Studio
I have added a couple of more obvious suspects off the top of my head, though I am sure the list of films which were shot there is still far from complete. It would be cool if some of you guys would weigh in on the subject, as I am not a bona fide location savant.
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Parts of They Call Him Veritas also might’ve been shot there, but then again, not sure 100%. It kinda looks like it.
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btw. I found a few hints that Cave Studio was in Canale Monterano or Manziano northwest of Rome. However, there’s also a village called “Cave” in the southeast of rome. I find it puzzling that it’s so hard to research where this studio really was, drives me nuts 
I hope we can solve this so that henceforth it can be easily googled by being able to read it in the SWDb
I don’t know if it’s reliable or helpful, but I found this website https://digilander.libero.it/starandstarlette/gordon_mitchell.htm
I speak only a few words of Italian, so I had to use the autotranslate of the page (I was lazy and didn’t bother to ctrl c + ctrl v it to DeepL 
) It gave me this:
“In 1970, the bankruptcy of a producer who owed him a couple of films earned Gordon Mitchell, as compensation, a plot of land in Cave, near Rome, where, demonstrating managerial and resourceful skills, uncommon, following the advice of friends, he created the “Cave Studio Film”, a small film studio with an accurate reconstruction of a western village which, in the following years, would be used to shoot around 50 films, thanks to its proximity to Cinecittà and above all at much lower costs.”
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hm so it is indeed in Cave, not in canale monterano
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