James Bond in Milan | Hotel Admiral and Never Send Flowers

2026 – FEB, the wife and I went to the opening of the Winter Olympics. The celluloid James Bond has never been to Milan. There is also no evidence that I could find of Ian Fleming coming to Milan. Although Bond has been to Milan in both the continuation novel Never Send Flowers by John Gardner, and in The Authorised Biography of 007 by John Pearson.

The La Scala theatre features in Never Send Flowers. Bond takes a tour of the theatre itself which you can do for 12 euros. He mentions busts and statues of composers in the lobby area, which is not open to the tour but only when you see a concert.

Below is the Duomo of course. Bond goes to the roof for a showdown with the main bad guy Dragonpol.

Overall the book, which I listened to on Audible is a solid enough read. It gets a little caught up in its own conceit with the evil twin cliche in the penultimate act, but it’s serviceable and I enjoyed it for the most part.

Bond in Cortina

Whilst I’m here, the Winter Olympics reignited my love affair for For Your Eyes Only which was shot around the stadiums in Cortina. I did a video on YouTube which you can watch here.

The Admiral Hotel

Aside from the literal Bond, you can also pay a visit to the Admiral Hotel to see the private collection of Edward Coffrini Dell-Orto. The collection (once upstairs) is now in the basement of the hotel and free to view.

I met with Edward and he was very generous with his time talking about his collection. I took more photos which I published to Facebook.