So tourism is of great importance and we welcome it.” This means tourism brings advantages and benefits to the whole region, from direct and indirect sources. All of this exposure also brings a series of cultural, social and tourist opportunities. “From the summer of 2017 to the first months of 2021, we welcomed more than 140 Italian and international production companies, even during the lockdown. “Cinema has always embraced our city, now more than ever,” Bennardi said. The mayor of Matera, Domenico Bennardi, a member of Italy’s outlying Cinque Stelle party who took office in October 2020, is optimistic about the attention the film will bring to the city post-Covid (Matera was also in the spotlight as a European City of Culture in 2019). Matera is in the southern region of Basilicata which is one of the poorest areas in Italy, and was hit hard by the lockdown. And Mel Gibson’s controversial 2004 biblical drama The Passion of Christ used the rock church of San Nicola dei Greece for the last supper scene, as well as numerous other locations.ĭaniel Craig is partially seen sitting inside one of the Aston Martin DB5s used on the set of No Time to Die in Matera, southern Italy. The 2003 Italian crime mystery thriller Io non ho Paura (I’m not Scared), directed by Gabriele Salvatores, was shot nearby. Pier Paolo Pasolini set the story of Jesus’s life here in the 1964 classic The Gospel According to St Matthew. More difficult to place is the frozen lake of Nittedal in Norway, the wild landscapes of the Faroe Islands off the coast of Denmark, and the Unesco hill town of Matera in southern Italy, where James Bond manoeuvres his Aston Martin DB5 with quintessential aplomb.Īlthough this may be the first appearance for Matera in the Bond collection, international movie buffs will be familiar with its rock dwellings built into the hills and arid otherworldly surroundings – it’s been nicknamed Little Jerusalem by directors. The latest, No Time to Die, is no exception, thanks to La La Land cinematographer Linus Sandgren, and the film’s location scouts.Īs always, London looms large as the HQ for MI6 Port Antonio in Jamaica makes an appearance, as this is where author Ian Fleming penned many of Bond’s escapades. A s audiences have come to expect with the James Bond franchise, the locations are almost as show-stopping as the high-adrenaline plot twists.

Paolo conte max