ITALY – Venice, Sinking House vis-à-vis to Rialto Mercato // Casino Royale (2006)

The climax of “Casino Royale” brings Vesper into a watery grave and Bond to rage – this is, where to find the sinking house in Venice. And how to navigate through “La Serenissima”.

Why Bond was here
He had it all: James Bond (Daniel Craig) just won a poker game in Montenegro, brought in a villain and enjoys Venice with the love of his life, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). But the woman betrays him: Vesper works for the bad guys, steals the poker money and runs off to meet with her contacts. Bond follows her into a crumbling Venetian house, saving her from her deal – but can’t safe her from her guilt. Vesper locks herself up, going down in the sinking house in Venice into a watery grave.

How you gonna get there
The house wasn’t actually sinking – the climax in “Casino Royale” had been filmed with a mix of Pinewood sets and clever CGI. The real one is a narrow house with carmine red paint and white windows in the Cannaregio area. It is
situated next to Sotoportego del Remer at Canal Grande. Right behind is the Lion Morosini Palace, but more famous is a spot on the other side of the Canal: Mercato di Rialto.
The famous market at San Polo has a vaporetto stop and a few meters downstream from there you have the best option to take in the scene. All major vaporetti lines – the famous Venice water buses – stop at Mercato di Rialto or the nearby Rialto Bridge. 
If you fancy a walk, head north from Marcus Square to the Bridge and then just stay on the pavement with the Canal Grande to your right. Also filmed at Rialto Mercado: The scene with Gettler watching Bond and Vesper sail through Venice and silently contacting the latter.

Good to know
Rialto is right in the heart of Venice’ main island – and helps you perfectly to navigate the city. Venice is unique. More than 100 islands are combined through water canals and bridges. »La Serenissima«, as Venice is called, wants you to get lost between its labyrinthine alleys and piazzas. So don’t glue your head to a smartphone looking for directions – but wonder, if the next turn will bring you to a new campo, the small town squares, or a dead end in front of a water canal. 
You are best off exploring the whole town on foot. Small “nizioletti”, street signs, help with navigating, adressing landmarks, campos and streets. The bigger lanes are named “calle”, the smaller one – passageway underneath houses – are called “sotoportego”.

But if you ever get lazy or lost, Rialto is a good hub for orientation. Some minutes to the south is touristy San Marco with the most famous landmarks, sights and most of the Bond locations. To the north is quiet Cannaregio, to the east is dynamic Castello and to the west the trendy students quarter of Dorsoduro. The Canal Grande meanders through in a reversed s-bend. Look out for vaporetto lines 1 and 2 to navigate along Canal Grande and ask for directions when bording: “Piazzale Roma” or “Ferrovia” brings you north, “San Marco” brings you south and directly to San Marco Square.
Rialto was one of the first places to be populated in old Venice and soon became the city’s most important trading hub. Rivo Alto means “high shore”. Though both the scenes with the falling house and Gettler at the famous market had been filmed in broad daylight, we highly recommend to get up early.
The Rialto Market still is a trading place, mostly for fresh fish, vegetables and fruits. The fish sellers arrive as early as 5.30 am to prep their stalls. So come around between 6 and 7 am to dive into the atmosphere and grab a café at a nearby shop. See vendors battle it out with seagulls over their freshly-caught mackerels, scallops and squids. See huge tunas and swordfishes getting choped down and loads of ice cubes pour over the stone floors. Later on, the morning sun bathes the columns of the old market hall in a golden light. 

We stayed in an alley right next to the mercato and came by every morning and evening. Rialto is always full of life and one can still feel its importance for the daily life in Venice. It also helps with budget planning: Fruits and vegetables come at reasonable prices. So buy some for a lunch or afternoon break at one of Venice’ nice campos, the small squares between houses. It is the much more relaxing option to a cramped table at a touristy restaurant.

© 2022 Huntingbond (1,3), © 2006 Sony Pictures, Danjaq LLC and United Pictures Inc.