Rome filming locations from SPECTRE

A look at SPECTRE’s Rome locations including a breakdown of that car chase.

The first shot of Bond arriving in Rome (27:55) shows him driving his Aston Martin DB10 the wrong way along Via di Porta San Pancrazio towards the arch of Porta San Pancrazio before the camera rises to show a panoramic shot of the Eternal City.

Next we see Bond driving along Via di San Gredorio (28:09) towards the Arch of Constantine and the Coliseum (28:21), headed for the funeral of Marco Sciarra. The cemetery (28:26) is in fact the Museum of Roman Civilization and five or six kilometres to the south of the city.

Sciarra’s widow, Lucia, returns to her home (30:56), the historic Villa di Fiorano, in the dark. From the garden the lights of Rome shine in the distance as Bond takes out her would be assassins.

After leaving Lucia Sciarra, Bond heads for the SPECTRE meeting. He drives along Passeggiata del Gianicolo (35:42) towards Piazza Garibaldi. In the background is the Vatican and the dome of St Peter’s Basilica as the camera rises above tree level to reveal Rome’s skyline.

There is also is a large palace in the shot, which has been added by CGI. Presumably it is supposed to be the palace at which SPECTRE meeting is to take place. The shots in the vicinity of the palace, such as when Bond reverses his car at high speed to escape from the SPECTRE meeting (42:39), were taken at Blenheim Palace. These include the narrow archway which Bond drives through followed by Hinx in hot pursuit in his Jaguar C-X75.

When the cars emerge they are back in Rome. The emerge onto Via Garibaldi heading in an easterly direction towards the river. As the cars drift on the cobblestones next to the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola (43:01) the Vatican is illuminated in the background.

Suddenly Bond on Via Nomentana (43:12), east of the river and driving southwest. Illuminated in the background is the Museo Storico dei Bersaglieri.

It’s here when he finds his machine guns have no ammo (43:25) before swinging the car right onto Via Reggio Emilia (43:35) against the traffic. The cars make a hard left next, but it isn’t from the same street, and the location so far remains unidentified.

The next sequence sees the cars once again west of the Tiber, starting (43:51) when Bond gets the music intended for 009.

As Bond enters the narrow Via degli Ombrellari southbound (43:56) from Piazza Americo Capponi, he takes off the top of a parked car. You can see the illuminated sign for Hotel Prati a couple of blocks north.

When Bond turns left (44:07) the shot cuts to show the Aston Martin turning off Borgo Angelico onto the top of  Via Plauto. He soon runs into a problem though (44:14) when an old man driving a Fiat 500 joins Via Plauto from Borgo Vittorio.

Of course Hinx isn’t too far behind and when he enters Via Plauto (44:18 ) his car sends a number motocycles flying as it fishtails after the turn and continues the chase down Via Plauto onto Vicolo delle Palline, where Bond decides to speed the Fiat up.

Bond’s DB10 and propels it through the archway (44:54 ) and turns left onto Via dei Corridori, while the Fiat is propelled into an ornate metal bollard, triggering the airbag. In reality this is the site of a pizzeria and the bollards don’t exist.

Bond calls Moneypenny (45:03) while driving along Via dei Corridori but when Hinx’s Jag pulls alongside they are on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II on the east bank again. Bond turns hard right onto Piazza della Cancelleria (45:53) while Hinx is forced to spin his car around to continue the chase.

The next shots (46:02) are on Via Panisperna heading east. The road heads downhill but after hitting the bottom of the incline (46:11) he almost collides with a car coming from Via del Boschetto on the right.

Suddenly we’re on the west bank again as Bond joins Via della Conciliazione (46:21) from Via San Pio X and towards the Vatican.

With the Jag in hot pursuit Bond drifts the car onto Largo del Colonnato (46:39) followed by a hard right and left (46:46) through an archway onto Via del Mascherino. However, the next shot (46:50) shows the cars at the bottom of the tree lined Via degli Scialoja on the east bank again and then (46:55) down the steps of the Scalo de Pinedo and onto the bank of the Tiber headed north towards Ponte Matteotti.

You can’t actually drive under the bridge, so the scene cuts to the cars heading towards the arch under Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II (47:11) on the west bank headed south.

The next shot (47:14) is on the same stretch of bank but now heading towards the next bridge to span the river, Ponte Principe Amedeo Savoia Aosta. Just as they are about to drive under the bridge (47:24) the scene cuts to show the cars driving towards the camera.

It’s different bridge they drive under though. As Bond emerges from the Ponte Pietro Nenni he avoids the pile of rubble in the foreground by steering onto the banked side (47:26). The cars continue on this banked section towards Ponte Regina Margheritta until forced back down to the horizontal (47:38) when the banking runs out because of the bridge.

In the next sequence (47:44) Bond uses the flamethrower on Hinx. This was shot along the section between Ponte Principe Amedeo Savoia Aosta all the way down to Ponte Sisto. After driving under Ponte Giuseppe Mazzini and seeing the way blocked by the arch of Ponte Sisto (48:19) Bond ejects. The Aston plunges into the water before the bridge while Bond lands on Lungotevere Farnesina where he disposes of his parachute.

Note: the times given in this article are taken from the UK DVD of SPECTRE and may vary from other versions.

David Leigh founded The James Bond Dossier in 2002. A fan of 007 since the age of 8, he is also author of The Complete Guide to the Drinks of James Bond. You can order a copy here if you don't own it already.


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