Locations
The chase sequences were filmed in Turin, except for the chase through the sewer tunnel, which was shot in the Sowe Valley Sewer Duplication system in the Stoke Aldermoor district of Coventry in the English Midlands, filmed from the back of a Mini Moke. The person on the far side who closes the gate at the end of sewer tunnel is the director, Peter Collinson. Collinson also appeared in the scene on the highway when the ramps get jettisoned: it is he (on the right) clinging to the back door of the coach as the Minis entered at speed.
The jail that held Bridger was Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, Ireland. The meeting at the misty funeral was set in Cruagh Cemetery, in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. The office block that doubled as the Turin traffic control centre was the Hanworth, Middlesex head office of the television rental chain DER.
The training sessions shown for the Mini drivers were at the Crystal Palace race track in Sydenham, South London. The attempt to blow the doors off the bullion van, which led to its destruction and Croker's line, took place at Crystal Palace Sports Centre. The Crystal Palace transmitter can be seen in the background.
A portion of the car chase, a dance between the Minis and police cars, was inside Pier Luigi Nervi's Exhibition Building with a full orchestra playing 'The Blue Danube'. It was cut from the final version and appears as an extra on the DVD.
The final escape from Turin and bus crash was the 'dead end' road from Turin via Ceresole Reale, Lago Agnel and the Colle del Nivolet. The road does not lead to France or Switzerland.
Read more about this topic: The Italian Job