All 8 James Bond locations in Italy – From Italy with love

• James Bond location: Cortina d’Ampezzo (Dolomites)
• Actor: Roger Moore
• Year: 1981
• Why to watch: Bond skiing down a bobsled run and doing a pirouette while ski jumping
• Platform: Amazon Prime

In 1981 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Roger Moore plays Bond and shows off the ski areas of Cortina, including a bobsleigh run. That’s what was left of the Winter Olympics of 1956. Cortina was always a little run down. But that has completely changed now that Cortina will be the location of the Winter Olympics in 2026.

Bond stayed in a grand hotel that is over one hundred years old. 007 Connoisseurs know that Bond checks in in room number 300, but the balcony seen in the film belongs to room 108. Just so you know…

Experience Stream For your eyes only for yourself:

• James Bond location (Como): Tremezzina and San Siro (western side of Lake Como)
• James Bond location (Venice): Bridge of Sighs, St. Marco Square
• Actor: Daniel Craig
• Year: 2006
• Why to watch: Dreaming away at Europe’s most beautiful villas
• Platform: Amazon, Google Play

The film production crew filmed at two villas in Lake Como for “Casino Royale”. In Villa del Balbianello, Bond recuperates after his torture by La Chiffre. The villa is near Tremezzina, which is on the western shore of Lake Como. It’s in a picturesque wooded area. This villa has also been featured also in Star Wars.

Daniel ‘Bond’ Craig also filmed at Villa La Gaeta, near San Siro and Menaggio. It is surrounded by a pretty park. In the last scene of Casino Royale, Bond kills Mr. White and articulates the best one liner of all time: “Bond… James Bond”.

In Venice sails by the Canal Grande. Yachts in the grand canal are no daily sight, so one might wonder why Bond exposes himself to the public in this way. No wonder he and Vesper get in trouble. The luxury hotel where they stay is actually Prague’s Natural History Museum. After Vesper gets into trouble, Bond follows her frantically, first in the Piazza San Marco and then some streets further down. He passes a small alley, the Sottoportico Le Colonne. 

The palazzo that seems to crash into the water is on Venice’s Canal Grande across from Rialto’s vegetable market. It was of course reconstructed in the Pinewood studio. 

Experience Casino Royale for yourself:

• James Bond location Garda: From Malcesine to Riva del Garda
• James Bond location Tuscany: Carrara, Siena, Talamone
• Actor: Daniel Craig
• Year: 2008
• Why to watch: spectacular car chase along Lake Garda and original chase across the rooftops of historic Siena
• Platform: Amazon, Google Play

The chaotic road chase where Bond delivers Mr. White to a secret MI6 location alongside Lake Garda in Northern Italy. This car chase is at the very start of the film; it’s spectacular but rather short. The chase begins in the village of Malcesine, then continues to Navene and Tempesta and ends 2.24 minutes later near Riva del Garda. The cars then suddenly end up in the Carrara marmble caves. The caves are 240 kilometers south. James Bond apparently has super powers.

Bond travels from Lake Garda to Tuscany. Given the sequence of scenes, it looks more like flying than driving. In Carrara, he ‘visits’ the marble quarries, the same ones Michelangelo once visited to hatch his Pietà.

In Siena, Bond goes to Piazzetta della Paglietta on the Via di Salicotto, southeast of the Piazza del Campo, the central square. Siena is a World Heritage Site and the Piazza Del Campo hosts the Palio di Siena two times a year.

The crazy bareback horse race is a lively background for the film. Anyone can go if you find a place to stay and it is held on July 2nd and August 16th. The chase across the city (there is always a chase in the Bond film) was held on the real rooftops of Siena,

The beautiful coast of southern Tuscany, Maremma, also hosted the elusive Bond. Craig filmed in Talamone to visit his friend, Mathis. Read more on Bond’s Tour in Talamone.

Experience Quantum of Solace for yourself:

• James Bond location: Bridge of Sighs, St. Marco Square (Venice)
• Actor: Sean Connery
• Year: 1963
• Why to watch: Shooting (with weapons) in the Venetian canals
• Platform: Amazon

Venice is a popular location for 007. He has been there three times without getting much older by the way.

The first time was in 1963. In “From Russia with Love”, there are some scenes filmed in Venice, although the majority of that film was filmed in Istanbul, Turkey. James Bond and Tatiana Romanova were filmed kissing under the Bridge of Sighs when the film ends. Compared to today’s technology, the special effects are at an amateurish level. It is completely clear that the kissing duo is in the studio (Pinewood) and not in Italy. 

Experience From Russia with Love for yourself:

• James Bond location: Bridge of Sighs, St. Marco Square (Venice)
• Actor: Roger Moore
• Year: 1979
• Why to watch: Shooting (with weapons) in the Venetian canals
• Platform: Amazon

Sixteen years later than From Russia with Love, Bond is now Roger Moore. In ‘Moonraker’ Bond travels by gondola and passes a funeral boat full of dangerous men, kills a gondolier, and just barely escapes. In Piazza San Marco, Bond’s gondola becomes an amfibi vehicle, which is honestly quite ridiculous to see.

Bond also visits a glass store near Piazza San Marco, and the Hotel Danieli in Venice. The hotel is lavish and beautifully decorated, as you can see in the film. He checked in to rooms 31 and 32. Bond also appears in Ca’ Rezzonico at the Fondamenta Rezzonico 3136, across the Canal Grande from San Marco. The grand palazzo is now the Museum of 18th Century Venice.

Bond also briefly stays in “South America” for a Brazilian training camp, but these scenes were actually filmed in San Nicolo al Lido, near Venice.

Experience Moonraker for yourself:

• James Bond location: Costa Smeralda (Northern Sardinia)
• Actor: Roger Moore
• Year: 1977
• Why to watch: 007’s car emerges from the sea and Bond tosses onlookers a small fish
• Platform: Amazon, Google Play, Apple TV

Bond and his leading lady stay at the luxurous Hotel Cala di Volpe which is on cliffs on the north coast of Sardinia. On Costa Smeralda, Cala di Volpe is one of the most famous sites. The hotel is an oasis along the coastline. You can ask to look at the “Bond suite” where Bond filmed at the hotel (it’s actually the bar).

There is also a car chase at Vista Point, and in the piazza of San Pantaleone. Bond eventually drives his Lotus Esprit car into the sea, and the car turns into a submarine. 007 ends up on the beach at Romazzina, east of Cala di Volpe.

Experience The Spy Who Loved Me for yourself:

• James Bond location: Coliseum, Vatican, Monti, Gianicolo Hill (Rome)
• Actor: Daniel Craig
• Year: 2015
• Why to watch: Nocturnal Rome is all its beau
• Platform: Amazon, Google Play

Rome is the star in the “Spectre” film. The city host Daniel Craig for about six minutes as he flees from his great opponent. Bond blasts through the Italian capital from left to right. He passes the Vatican, the tiny streets of the Monti district and the Prati district and he races over the Gianicolo Hill. Before he is haunted, Bond took a drive (during the day) to meet Monica Bellucci. We then see him go past the Coloseum at a snail’s pace.

In any case, Bonds’ stay at Rome ends in the Tiber River

Experience Spectre for yourself:

• James Bond location: Matera and Gravina in Puglia (and Sapri)
• Actor: Daniel Craig
• Year: 2021
• Why to watch: Bond’s bungee jumping act on the stone bridge of Matera
• Platform: Amazon Prime

Matera’s rugged and dreamy cliffs and landscape are in the latest James Bond film.

Matera may not be very well known to the general public, but the town is a real gem, and Bond has noticed that too. Not that James can enjoy it, because as so often it’s more like running for your life than visiting a town.

The shots were made in Matera and Gravina in Puglia (25 kilometers from each other), which is similar to Matera in terms of houses and location. For this film, scenes were also shot in Sapri (200 kilometers west). The town is situated on the coast below Naples.

Actually, that would be the ninth of James Bond locations in Italy, but we’ll stick with these eight, the Sapri scenes are too trivial.

The film was shot in the fall of 2019. Due to the corona epidemic, the release of the film has been continually delayed. It ultimately came out on 30 September 2021 (United Kingdom) and 8 October 2021 (USA).

Experience No Time to Die for yourself: