A Tour Through Rome With Angels Guiding Your Way

A great introduction to some of Rome's most famousis St. Peter's square. This is where the second cardinal
sights not to mention a lesson in navigation around themet his end.
eternal city as well, the Angels and Demons Tour is aThe "air" angel seemed to blow east to Santa Maria
guided tour based on the highly acclaimed novel bydella Vittoria where the third cardinal was to meet his
Dan Brown. After searching for introductory tours ofdoom consumed by fire. Historically, this building was
Rome during my European tour planning phase, Idedicated to St. Paul and known as San Paulo when it
happened upon this one particular tour and thought itwas built in 1605-1626. Later, it was rededicated to the
sounded like loads of fun not to mention the fact that itVirgin Mary. Once inside, we recounted Langdon's
would be a great way to see the sights.experience and then directed our attention to the
Do you dare to walk in the "Path of Illumination"? If so,Bernini sculpture, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa where
then read on as this article recounts the tale as wewe would find an amazingly realistic rendition of St.
too, followed in the footsteps of Robert Langdon asTeresa expressing sheer ecstasy for her love of God
he set out on that mysterious and courageous journeywhile an angel stands close by pointing his spear of
guided by angels and demons to save the kidnappedfire. You must see this in person because pictures do
Cardinals not to mention the Vatican from impendingnot convey the brilliance of the golden beams nor do
doom. So our tour too was to be guided by the samethey really show you how Bernini captured and
angels and demons.rendered ecstasy in St. Teresa's face. It is beyond
We raced over to Piazza del Popolo on the other sidebelief!
of the Tiber River to begin our tour at 9:30. There, weMoving on. The angel in this church then lead us to our
met our private guide, Michaela, whom to this day,next stop on the tour, Piazza Navona where the 4th
remains a close and personal friend. After introductions,cardinal would meet his doom in Bernini's Fountain of
we began our journey along the "Path of Illumination"the Four Rivers in the middle of the piazza. The
which includes visits to the Pantheon, the four churchesfountain represents the four great rivers in four
or "Altars of Science" mentioned in the book andcontinents at the time it was designed by Bernini in the
concludes at Castel Sant'Angelo. When viewed on aRenaissance. Surrounding Triton are the Nile in Africa,
map, the churches form a giant cross over Rome withthe Ganges in Asia, the Danube in Europe and finally
Santa Maria del Popolo to the north, St. Peter's Basilicathe Rio de la Plata in America. Rising from the center
to the west; Santa Maria della Vittoria to the east andof the fountain is a gigantic Egyptian obelisk hence
finally; St. Agnes in Agony to the south (across fromanother clue for Langdon. By the way, this famous
the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona). Aspiazza is usually a "must see" on everyone's Roman
the story unfolds, these churches correspond to theitinerary because it was the site of ancient Roman
four scientific elements of earth, air, fire and waterchariot races. Then in the 15th century, it was
which represent how each of the kidnapped cardinalsredesigned as a public space with contributions from
was to meet his end. If you want to see pictures ofBernini and and Girolamo Rainaldi who designed the
these fascinating sights, you will need to visit my blog.church of St. Agnes in Agony. Today, it is home to
See end of article.these glorious buildings and sculptures and very
Our first stop was Santa Maria del Popolo. Before Itempting cafés surrounding the piazza. It's a
proceed any further, let me back up to give a littlegreat place to grab an espresso and people watch,
background on how we got here when the bookhowever, be warned that the cafés are
starts out in the Pantheon. If you remember, Robertabsolute tourist traps that feature overpriced and
and Vittoria began their tour at the Pantheon, the 2000often mediocre food so stick to coffee and maybe a
year old building in Rome designed originally by Agrippapastry. Go and seek your main courses where the
in 27 B.C. but then later burned and rebuilt in 125 A.D.locals dine.
What remains to this day is Rome's oldest standingAt this point in the book, the four cardinals are gone
domed structure which was originally designed for theand now Langdon must rescue Vittoria which brings us
ancient gods of Rome. However, the building was laterto our final stop in the story and tour, Castel
consecrated in 609 as Santa Maria dei Martiri andSant'Angelo. Originally designed as a tomb for
currently holds masses to this day. It was at theEmperor Hadrian whose ashes along with those of his
Pantheon that Robert Langdon made his first stop onwife, were indeed buried here, the structure built in
his quest to save the four cardinals. Because he135-139 AD, was converted into a fortress in 401 that
incorrectly deciphered the clues from the Vaticanultimately housed many a Pope after it was converted
library, he and Vittoria headed to this location believinginto a castle in the 14 century. There is one very
they would be there in plenty of time to save the firstinteresting fact about the "connection" between this
kidnapped cardinal. Despite their unswerving efforts,structure and the Vatican itself. Not accessible to the
they were too late because as the story goes, theypublic but nonetheless there, is the Il Passeto, a secret
didn't realize in time that Raphael's body was laterpassageway that provided an escape route for
moved from the Pantheon to Santa Maria del PopoloPopes from the Vatican to the safety of this massive
even though all clues pointed here including the demonfortress. In the story, the cardinals were kidnapped and
hole or occulus at the top of the structure.lead out of the Sistine Chapel via Il Passeto.
Now, back to Piazza del Popolo. Michaela our guide,We arrived at the entrance and walked around the
pointed out the Egyptian obelisk in the center of thecurving ramps inside the castle to the top for a
piazza which formed a giant ellipse, one of the keys tobreathtaking view of the Tiber River and surrounding
identifying this first church in their journey along theRome. Lots of history to see here and a model of the
"Path of Illumination". We went inside to the Chigistructure before and after the conversion from
Chapel and discovered the demon hole or the ossuarymausoleum to fortress.
annex in the floor. No wonder history calls this aOur story and tour are coming to an end. Needless to
"demon hole". Needless to say, this locationsay, Robert does save Vittoria and then rescues the
represented "earth", the first of the four elements. AsVatican from the threat of destruction. Michaela
the story goes, Langdon was too late but we weren't.rescues us with a treat to some coffee and a pastry
We toured around the rest of the church and beforeat a nearby café before we departed. So, we
leaving, scouted out our first angel who is positionedjourneyed along the "Path of Illumination" guided by our
with Habakkuk in Bernini's Habakkuk and the Angelangels and demons and experienced a lot of the
sculpture. Which way is he pointing?famous sights in Rome while reliving the fictional world
As it turned out, the angel pointed west so we left theof Dan Brown. What fun!! I strongly recommend it to
church and headed due west to St. Peter's Basilicaanyone who has 4 hours to spare in their Roman
where we discovered our next angel, representingholiday. You can do a private tour where you are
"air", the second of the elements, at the base of theshuttled by your guide via taxi or a group tour in a
Egyptian obelisk located in yet another giant ellipse thatmini-van. I recommend the private tour! Have fun!