James Bond and film locations in Matera
Where No Time to Die was filmed in Matera, what is confirmed and what is fan lore, The Passion of the Christ sites, the $73 Bond tour and a walk to do alone.
James Bond came to Matera for No Time to Die (released 2021). The second unit filmed an Aston Martin DB5 chase in and around the Sassi from late August 2019, and the main unit followed in early September. Italy’s official film portal confirms three Matera locations: the tunnel the couple drive through on arrival, near the Church of Sant’Agostino in Sasso Barisano; the view from the hotel room, created near Piazzetta Pascoli; and the bridge leap, which is not in Matera at all but at the aqueduct bridge in Gravina in Puglia, about 30 km away.
To see the spots with someone who knows the film, book the Matera: James Bond 007 Guided Tour, a two-hour walk for $73 per person, rated 4.5 from 106 GetYourGuide reviews. You can also walk the main scenes yourself for free, and Matera has played Jerusalem in more films than Bond’s, from Pasolini to Mel Gibson.
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No Time to Die in Matera: the confirmed scenes
Italy for Movies, the national film-promotion portal, names these places for the Italian part of the film:
- The arrival tunnel. Bond and Madeleine reach Matera through a tunnel several hundred meters long built near the Church of Sant’Agostino in Sasso Barisano.
- The hotel view. The view from their hotel room was created near Piazzetta Pascoli, beside Palazzo Lanfranchi. You can stand there today and look out over the old town.
- The bridge leap. The jump from a high bridge is the aqueduct bridge at Gravina in Puglia, about 30 km from Matera. It is a separate town in Apulia, so you need a car or a tour to see it.
- The station. The railway station the film calls “Civita Lucana” was shot at Sapri station, outside Matera.
The car chase is the part people come for. Wikipedia’s account of the production says the second unit drove an Aston Martin DB5 through Matera from late August 2019, with the main unit arriving in early September, and it places the car’s doughnut spin in Piazza San Giovanni Battista. Fan sites and the Bond tour put the same spin in Piazza San Pietro Caveoso. Because the sources disagree, treat any single square as a claim; what is certain is that the chase was filmed in and around the Sassi in 2019.
The sets and props were removed after filming, so the spots look like ordinary lanes and squares today. A guide with stills on a phone helps if you want to match the shots, though a couple of reviewers of the Bond tour said they could have found the places on their own with a bit of homework.
What fans and the Bond tour add
Fan sites and the Bond tour’s own description go further than the official portal. Treat these as fan claims, not confirmed facts:
- The motorcycle jump. The tour description and one magazine say Bond’s motorbike leap was filmed by the cathedral at Piazza Duomo. The official portal names only the Gravina bridge leap.
- The walk on Via Muro. Fan sites say Bond and Madeleine walk along Via Muro in a quiet scene. Via Muro is confirmed for a different film, The Passion of the Christ (below).
- The car drift at San Pietro Caveoso. As above, sources disagree on the square.
The Bond tour’s itinerary takes in Piazza San Francesco, Piazza Duomo, Via Muro, San Pietro Caveoso square, the Rione Malve and Via Bruno Buozzi, and, if time allows at the end, Piazza Vittorio Veneto and Piazza San Giovanni.
The tour is run by Martulli Viaggi, which also runs the most-reviewed Sassi walk on this site. It leaves from the Martulli Viaggi office in Matera, runs in English or Italian with up to 15 people, and is not suitable for people with mobility impairments or for people over 70. Strollers are not allowed. Reviews are mixed on the film content: three three-star reviewers felt it was more a general tour of Matera than a Bond tour, and one felt the scenes were mostly pointed out on the guide’s phone. If you mainly want the history and a cave house, the standard two-hour Sassi walk costs $33, $40 less, and is rated 4.7 from 7,953 reviews. Book the Bond walk if the film is the reason you came; our breakdown lists everything it includes.
The Passion of the Christ
Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004) used the Sassi as the face of Jerusalem, and Italy for Movies maps its scenes street by street:
- The Way of the Cross was reconstructed in the Civita, the rock between the two Sassi where the cathedral stands.
- On Via Muro, Christ falls under the cross.
- The market scenes were filmed on Vico Solitario in front of the rock church of Santa Lucia alle Malve, with the city gate at Piazza Porta Pistola.
- The Last Supper and the Washing of the Feet were shot in the rock complexes of Madonna delle Virtù and San Nicola dei Greci.
- Golgotha and the Sermon on the Mount were filmed at the Murgia Timone viewpoint, across the Gravina gorge.
Outside the Sassi, the Masseria Radogna gave the childhood flashbacks and Craco the death of Judas; the interiors were built at Cinecittà in Rome. The Murgia Timone viewpoint is inside the Murgia park, which now charges for access, and the easiest way to stand where Golgotha was filmed is a guided sunset walk with the park tickets included. Our sunset tour page compares them.
Pasolini, Ben-Hur and Wonder Woman
Matera was a film location long before Bond. Pier Paolo Pasolini recreated Jerusalem among the Sassi for The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), his chosen setting for the passion, crucifixion and resurrection. Bethlehem in that film is Barile, and the Sanhedrin is the castle of Lagopesole.
The 2016 remake of Ben-Hur used the Sassi as Jerusalem again, and Italy for Movies says the crew spent almost five months in the city between preparation and outdoor shooting. In Wonder Woman (2017), the stone town where the Amazons live is Matera. Wikipedia also lists King David (1985), Mary (2005), The Nativity Story (2006) and The Omen (2006) among the films shot here, and says filmmakers call the city “Little Jerusalem”. On Italian television, the series Imma Tataranni is also shot in Matera.
Other ways to see the film sites
Beyond the walking tour, two smaller listings cover the films:
- Matera: Gravina and James Bond private Tour with Guide takes you by van from your hotel in Matera to the Gravina in Puglia bridge for a guided visit, listed at $809 for a group of up to four. It needs at least four people to run and has a single review so far.
- Matera: Film Set Adventure through Sassi & Murgia by E-Bike costs $124 per person for about 3.5 hours and 23.6 km on an e-bike, covering Bond, The Passion and Imma Tataranni locations in the Sassi and the Murgia park. It has no reviews yet, and it asks for good fitness and some e-bike experience.
The Murgia park’s own ticket office also sells a 2.5-hour film-locations tour from Piazza Vittorio Veneto or Porta Pistola, at EUR 25 in English or French and EUR 20 in Italian, covering The Passion, Ben-Hur and No Time to Die.
A film walk you can do on your own
The streets of the Sassi are public and free, so you can walk the main film sites at your own pace with a map and some stills saved on your phone. The lanes are steep and stepped all the way, so wear closed shoes with grip. A route that takes you through both films in a sensible order:
- Piazza Vittorio Veneto. Start in the upper town; the Belvedere Luigi Guerricchio, behind three arches on the east side, gives you a first look over Sasso Barisano.
- Piazzetta Pascoli. The confirmed hotel-room view in No Time to Die.
- Piazza Duomo. The cathedral square, linked by fans to the motorcycle jump.
- Sant’Agostino, Sasso Barisano. Near the confirmed arrival tunnel.
- Via Muro, in the Civita. Christ’s fall in The Passion; fans add a Bond scene.
- Madonna delle Virtù and San Nicola dei Greci. The Last Supper complex. These two churches are not on the official rock-church ticket list, so check opening and entry on the spot.
- Porta Pistola. The city gate from The Passion’s market scenes, and the start of the park trail across the gorge.
- Vico Solitario and Santa Lucia alle Malve, Sasso Caveoso. The market scenes. Santa Lucia alle Malve is a ticketed rock church (EUR 4.50, booked for a date and time); the Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario is on the same lane, about EUR 8 in 2026.
- San Pietro Caveoso square. A candidate for the Aston Martin’s doughnut, beside the Monterrone spur with the rock church of Santa Maria de Idris.
From there you climb back to the upper town. Golgotha at Murgia Timone needs a park ticket and either the trail from Porta Pistola or a sunset tour with a transfer, and the Gravina bridge needs a car or the private tour. Our tickets and prices guide covers every paid site on the way, and the Sassi tour guide compares the walking tours if you would rather have a guide for the history.
If you want the scenes explained on site, check the dates for the Bond tour, because its group is capped at 15.
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