Bond in Rome - The Colosseum

For the first time in the Bond series, Bond visits Rome in Spectre. Urged by M in a video filmed before her death, Bond is attending the funeral of Spectre agent Sciarra in Rome, who Bond himself has killed in Mexico.

In the first scene, Bond is seen driving his Aston Martin DB10 down the road called Via di San Gregorio, that leads up to the Colosseum. This wide road is a popular parking for tourist buses since the Colosseum is only a few hundred meters away.

As the road turns to the right onto Via Celio Vibenna, the Colosseum is visible in the background as well as the Arch of Constantine, Arco di Costantino, which is located to the left of the Colosseum. The Arch of Constantine is the largest Roman triumphal arch. Bond is on the way to the funeral which in fact was filmed in the EUR district outside of Rome, covered here earlier, so Bond would actually not need to drive past the Colosseum in order to get to the funeral. But we are obviously supposed to think that the chapel and graveyard is located somewhere in central Rome.

In the film, the Colosseum is seen from the "back", probably because it is not possible to drive past the front side with a car.

Sadly, not much more of central Rome is seen during the day in Spectre. Bond later follows Sciarra's wife Lucia to her home located outside of Rome, before driving to the Spectre meeting, which of course was filmed at Blenheim Palace in England. Colosseum is, probably, the most famous tourist attraction in Rome and hard to miss when visiting the city. However, as a Bond location it is not the most exciting one in Rome. The front side of the Colosseum is also more preserved than the side seen in the film.