HBO, in partnership with BBC, has been filming the $100 million toga-and-sandals series within the walls of this studio, the largest in Europe. “Rome” may be set in the era of Julius Caesar (played by Ciaran Hinds) but it is anything but stuffy. There’s plenty of sex, nudity, action, power struggles and drama involving historical figures aside from Caesar, such as Mark Antony (James Purefoy), Cleopatra (Lindsey Marshal), Atia of the Julii (Polly Walker), Servilia of the Junii (Lindsay Duncan) and Marcus Junius Brutus (Tobias Menzies).

In addition, two Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson), who were mentioned in Caesar’s real-life journals, are creatively drawn in this series to provide a point of view from which we can see the power struggles, battles, sex and intrigue (nothing much has changed, really).

The funny thing was, there we were in the Eternal City and yet we were visiting the ersatz version inside a movie studio, quite solemnly listening to the trivia and factoids recited by “Rome’s” affable historical consultant, Jonathan Stamp. But we didn’t mind, since Jonathan’s prattle was often funny and irreverent, in contrast to the bland monologue of our tour guide when we visited the actual sites seven years earlier. Although this portly guide’s habit of saying “Alora” (Italian for “and then” or “therefore”) and pulling up his sagging pants at the same time had kept us amused as we tramped through the ruins.

Vestal virgin

Our day-long visit to Cinecitta began on an open plaza at an impressively re-created ancient Roman Forum. Even the olive trees are over 200 years old. Jonathan emphasized that “Rome” shows a vibrant, colorful city as it must have been, not a staid, sterile place populated by white toga wearing denizens—the cliché served up in those old Hollywood movies. In the course of our tour of the sets, the Brit, with his encyclopedic knowledge of ancient Rome, presented a city with about a million residents, who scribbled graffiti and lived in slums or magnificent homes.

The summa cum laude graduate from Oxford pointed at a replica of the Temple of Vesta, which housed a virgin girl whose job was to maintain the sacred flame. The Romans believed that as long as the flame burns, their city would endure. Jonathan said that a virgin girl as young as nine years old was recruited to serve in the Temple of Vesta for 30 years (hence the origin of the term, vestal virgin).

What happened if a vestal virgin broke her vow of virginity? Or, as Madonna’s song goes, “Like a virgin” na lang siya? She was buried alive, according to Jonathan. Food was given to the girl when she was buried to sustain and let her live a bit longer, and therefore, suffer longer. One perk, though, of being a vestal virgin was that she got the best seat in the Colosseum, right next to the Emperor.

As we continued our walking tour, Jonathan revealed that the Italian crew, used to the practice of dialogue being dubbed later in post-production, had to be told repeatedly to be quiet during a take. He narrated how once, the cell phone of a gaffer, who was high up on a crane, rang in the middle of a take. This crew member answered the phone and proceeded to talk on the phone for five minutes, unmindful of the consternation he was causing among the cast and crew on the ground.

We stopped by a set of Rome’s poor section. A place where fabrics were dyed in those early days was painstakingly built. We learned that poor Romans earned money by selling their urine, which was then used to help extract dye from the skin of animals.

Phallic symbols

No one could avoid staring at a huge painting of a phallus on one of the set walls. It turns out that the ancient Romans, who were a superstitious lot, believed that phallic symbols brought good luck and warded off evil spirits. So they painted phalluses on their front doors, displayed statues and wore amulets that depicted the erect male member. These were in abundant display throughout the set. Everyone was suddenly grinning at this point in the set tour.

Jonathan next took us to the public latrines. He explained that back then, only the rich had running water and toilets in their lavish homes. The masses—men and women—paid to relieve themselves in rows, in full view of each other, and shared a brush and a bucket to wash and wipe themselves. Jonathan shared that one time, when American International School students whom he was guiding finally understood the concept of a public latrine, a collective “Eeewwww!” sprang forth from their mouths. The disgusted scream could be heard all the way to downtown Rome, he smilingly told us.

On the walls of this re-creation of a public latrine is graffiti which apparently was all over then—in Latin nga lang.

We were asked to be quiet as we approached the set where actual filming was taking place. A scream of “Silencio!” and “Cut!” signaled the beginning and end of a take. In this scene that’s going to be in an episode titled “Death Mask,” James Purefoy and Polly Walker flirted with each other as they attended the wedding of the characters Posca and Jocasta. Polly’s striking eyes were very expressive.

Incidentally, James and Polly have done their bit in sexing up “Rome.” James’ full frontal nudity in season one created a lot of buzz. Our introduction to Polly’s character in the series was as she rode naked a lover with her slaves also in the room.

Shades on the lot

In between takes, men in togas wore anachronistic sunglasses to walk from the indoors set out into Rome’s hot summer sunshine. Costumed women strolled in as goats were also being herded in to add color to the scene.

After a leisurely lunch break (the largely English cast said that they enjoy the Italian lifestyle of appreciating the good life and not rushing through meals), it was time for interviews at the lavish villa of Polly’s character. Red rose petals adorned the foyer. We were split into groups in an indoor garden with real plants.

The principals on the set this afternoon—James, Polly, Ray Stevenson, Lindsay Duncan and Kevin McKidd—are distinguished actors, with impeccable theater acting credentials. Lindsay alone, who plays Servilia, twice won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” and “Private Lives.”

James shared our enthusiasm for Cinecitta. “This studio is a piece of European film heritage,” said the actor who starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in Mira Nair’s “Vanity Fair.” “I never get bored of the drive to work, going past the Colosseum in that pink light of dawn, past the Forum and then arriving at our own version of the Forum.”

Of course, someone brought up his full frontal nudity and the sex scenes in the series. “In ancient Rome, they had a very different moral code,” he explained. “They would have people in the room while they were making love. The slaves were just like furniture. A slave would be there to give you something, if you wanted water at the end of it (sex). I had one scene last year where there was full frontal nudity. I was being exfoliated by a slave while having a conversation with McKidd’s character. It had nothing to do with sex. It just said a great deal about my character, Mark Antony, and about that time.”

Socks for his ...

With a smile, he revealed the surprise effect of his full frontal, the morning after that episode was aired. “It was an amusing experience,” he shared. “I took my boy to school the following morning and all those ladies in the playground who have been terribly nice to me were suddenly unable to look me in the eye at all.”

Ray Stevenson, literally a towering presence at 6’4”, also had an amusing tale about his nude sex scene with Lindsey Marshal. Before he did the scene, Ray walked into his dressing room and found wind socks that he was supposed to wear on his privates and nothing else. The actor recalled saying, “Oh, this is ridiculous. I put one on. I thought, this is never going to work. So I went out of my dressing room and walked up to Lindsey. I said to her, ‘I’ve got to show you this before we go on.’ When she finally picked herself up from laughing so much, she said, ‘Please don’t wear that!’ ”

We didn’t see wind socks when we toured the wardrobe and prop departments. Instead, we saw hundreds and hundreds of costumes on hangers at a hangar-like room presided over by Oscar-nominated costume designer April Ferry. Recovering from a fall, April had created a fashionable sling for her injured arm out of a black scarf.

April had the daunting task of supervising the creation of 4,000 pieces of wardrobe for the first season. Beaming, she cited James from among the hundreds she has to dress up: “He is an absolute peacock.” What did men wear under those togas in those days? “Perizona,” she replied, which she likened to diapers.

“The sandals are more comfortable this season,” April cheerily announced. Well, at least for Ray and Kevin who wanted something more comfy. Her secret? Birkenstock soles.

Emmy Awards

There was an air of nostalgia in the room where Augusto and Giampaolo Grassi created the leather costumes for the principal actors. Their father fashioned the body armor for “Cleopatra” in 1963, which was filmed right here. That epic’s stars, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, fell in love on this lot as they made the movie.

Several weeks after she regaled us with her stories, April, along with Augusto, won the Emmy Award for Best Outstanding Costumes for a Series. The meticulous attention to detail paid off—“Rome” also romped off with the awards for Best Hairstyling for a Series, Best Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series and Best Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

“Rome’s” second season begins in January 2007. We note with sadness that there won’t be a third season although that may still change. But HBO’s recent release of an impressive six-disc DVD set of the first season should delight long-time fans and win new ones. Thanks to its production values, “Rome” comes across as a very good extended movie, not a television series.