Whilst actual principal photography won't actually start on the next James Bond film until December 14th, a small production team headed to the Tuscan village of Siena, Italy on Thursday to film some background shots during the Palio di Siena horse race.

Actor Daniel Craig was also in attendance at the event but did NOT participate in filming. MI6 has landed some new snaps of Craig at the event, and has scored some new details about the filming. As previously reported, the Palio race will serve as the backdrop to key action scenes in the movie, where 007 will chase the villain through steep and narrow cobbled streets and across the rooftops on foot.

Newly revealed is that preceeding the chase will be a scene of Bond traversing Siena's narrow underground alleys and medieval aqueducts in his Aston Martin. Also, one of the chase locations will be the 'bottini', a network of tunnels that run under the city and cannot be visited by the public without permission. Those tunnels and alleys will be reconstructed at Pinewood Studios.

The town council have also given permission for the production team to return between January to July 2008 to complete location shots involving the cast. The filming agreement includes a restriction to not show any violence involving people or animals during the race.

Also it's been revealed that the unique floating opera house in Bregenz, Austria will, if all works out between the producers and authorities, serve as the backdrop for a scene where "Bond attends a performance of Tosca and intervenes in some manner." If agreed, three days of filming will take place here next Spring.