Culture officials fear damage to Quattro Fontane fountains

Rome’s cultural heritage officials have blocked plans to film a high-speed car chase at the Quattro Fontane intersection as part of the new James Bond movie being filmed in the Italian capital.

Producers of Spectre, the 24th edition in the Bond series, had hoped to shoot a sequence in which 007, played by British actor Daniel Craig, would race through Rome in a night-time car chase.

However city officials have refused to authorise the scene planned at the Quattro Fontane crossroads between Via del Quirinale and Via XX Settembre, over concerns that the 16th-century fountains are too fragile to risk being hit by a speeding Aston Martin.

Instead the city has suggested that the filmmakers recreate the sequence using post-production special effects. The fountains are currently undergoing a €320,000 restoration due for completion in late February.

Filming in Rome begins on 19 February and is expected to last throughout March. The most dramatic scene will feature 007 landing by parachute onto the 15th-century Ponte Sisto pedestrian bridge between Campo de' Fiori and Trastevere.

Bond will also appear in a number of high-speed car chases on Borgo Vittorio near the Vatican, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II between Piazza Navona and Campo de' Fiori, and on the Lungotevere along the river Tiber.

The movie is being directed by Britain's Sam Mendes – who was behind the most recent Bond film Skyfall – and is due for release on 6 November.