ITALY – Venice, Piazza San Marco & Torre dell’Orologio & Sotoportego del Cavaletto & Calle Barcaroli & Venini Glass // Moonraker (1979) & Casino Royale (2006)

Piazza San Marco is the cultural and touristic heart of Venice. And it is full of famous (and hidden) James Bond movie locations. Let us guide you through all the right places.

Why Bond was here
In “Moonraker”, Bond (Roger Moore) is in pursuit of French megalomaniac Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) and follows him to Venice in Italy. Drax wants to kill all mankind and repopulate a “master race” in space. For this, Drax needs a lot of glass. Bond pays a visit to Drax’ partner: famous Venice glass maker “Venini” at their flagship store at Piazza San Marco. Later on, he even drives his custom-made “Bondola” around the square.

James Bond revisits Venice in “Casino Royale”. Now he (Daniel Craig) wants to spend some quality time with his lover Vesper (Eva Green) after a job well done. Problem is: The job isn’t done. Vesper betrays Bond and withdraws the money, 007 took away from Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). Bond discovers the backstabbing at a bank branch on Piazza San Marco and follows Vesper from the square into the maze of Venetian alleyways.

How you gonna get there
There are numerous locations directly at and around Piazza San Marco. Some are famous landmarks, others are little lanes north of the square. But everything is in easy walking distance.
Here is a full list:

• In “Moonraker” Bond arrives at Traghetto Gondola Mole, the gondola pier, next to Riva degli Schiavoni.
• Later in the movie, he reenters the square at the same spot with his hovercraft “Bondola”. He drives it along Palazzo Ducale and the Basilica di San Marco and turns left onto the main square.
• The Venini shop is at the adjoining Piazetta dei Leoncini in the north-east corner of Piazza San Marco. The lion statue and the shop front is still there, but Venini closed down shop in 2020 – after 98 years. Lucky you: Venini moves its shop to Murano Island and hides another famous Bond location right there.
• The museum fight with Drax’ henchman ends inside the famous Torre dell’Orologio – with Bond pushing the enemy out of the glass window.
• In “Casino Royale” Bond visits a (made up) branch of Basel Bank in the north-west corner of Piazza San Marco before finding Vesper in the crowd.
• He follows her through the passage at Sotoportego del Cavalletto, seeing Vesper standing on the Ponte del Cavalletto.
• Vesper then walks along Calle Barcaroli, disappearing into the dark Sotoportego de le Colonne.

Good to know
Try to come as early as possible to Piazza San Marco to avoid the crowds. We even got up before sunrise one day to see the golden morning lights pour over the square and experience some quientness at the place. We heard nothing more than seagulls and the splashs by the moored gondolas.
While most locations are original places, there is also a phony one: The Torre dell’Orologio. The blue clock face with the golden zodiacs is not made of glass, but of marble. So you wont be able to see the ornaments from the inside like the movie suggests. Bond fought inside a studio set and the film crew used their imagination to invent a more dramatic looking clock. You can visit the real Torre dell’Orologio though with a guided tour. Instead of a fancy clock face you learn about the history of the clock tower and see the huge clockwork mechanism.

In pictures: The Beauty of Piazza San Marco and Venice

When you are around, don’t miss Palazzo Ducale. The gothic palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice and is full of grandezza and mystery. Find beautiful paintings and secret doors, the council room overflowing with glamour and the passage to the neighboring jail – the famous Ponte dei Sospiri, Bond briefly visits in “From Russia With Love”. We recommend the Venice Museum Pass. The ticket lets you avoid waiting lines and includes other Bond locations like the Glass Museum and Ca’Rezzonico next to the Doge’s Palace.

You never know, where a Bond location leads you to. Sure, Piazza San Marco is famous. But Calle Barcaroli? It wouldn’t have been on our bucket list without Bond – but luckily we found a great mask shop there. “Venice Art” is one of the last places in the city, that offers the real paper mache masks handcrafted by artists. We looked and compared the shop with other ones for a whole week – just to finally return to Calle Barcaroli and buy our Venetian masks at the place, where we first saw them. 

© 2022 Huntingbond (1,4,5,6,gallery), © 1979 Danjaq S.A. & United Artists Corporation & © 2006 Sony Pictures, Danjaq LLC and United Pictures Inc (2,3)