Interview with author of ‘Angels & Demons’ locations travel guide to Rome

Angela K. Nickerson, author of “A Journey Into Michelangelo’s Rome,” has written a free insider’s travel guide to the locations featured in “Angel & Demons.” Just to make sure you didn’t miss it, I said free. As in all 43 pages of it. “Rome’s Angels & Demons: The Insider’s Guide” offers great back-story to the historical characters that Dan Brown uses in his novel and at the same time offers practical travel information for visitors to Rome who want to see the sights for themselves. Here is a Q&A with Angela as she tells us more about why the book is so handy for travelers and how you can use her book to go on a self-guided tour of Rome, hitting the same locations you saw in the movie.

Jen: Angela – truly amazing of you and Roaring Forties Press to offer this guide for free. I would’ve thought you could’ve made a bunch of money off this. Can you give us some back story on how the guide got started?

Angela: Well, personally I love to go to the places I’ve read about or seen in movies. There’s something about living out that fantasy when you are traveling which is thrilling. Roaring Forties Press published my first book, “A Journey Into Michelangelo’s Rome.” They are interested in books that examine the intersections between art and travel. When I approached them with a guide to Rome and the sites in “Angels & Demons,” it fit both their ideology and their business model. So we are using this as a test product. If it goes well, hopefully we will make “a bunch of money” off of future titles!

For those of us who haven’t read the book yet, can you give us a quick primer on the characters in the book and movie so we’re not lost in your guide?

Dan Brown’s “Angels & Demons” actually was published before “The DaVinci Code.” Robert Langdon is the main character in both books. He is a symbologist – someone who studies symbols in art and culture – and is called in to shed light on a gruesome murder. He quickly deduces that the murderer is a member of a secret society long assumed to be defunct – the Illuminati.

[Photo credit: Zade Rosenthal / Columbia Pictures]

Langdon is joined by Vittoria Vetra, a brilliant physicist, and they end up in Rome where the Illuminati have planned the destruction of the Catholic Church. A man known as “the Hassassin” commits more gruesome murders, and a ticking bomb threatens all of Vatican City. All the while the College of Cardinals is meeting to elect a new pope, and Langdon is forced to become the unlikely hero in an international crisis.

[Photo: The "devil's hole" in the Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo. Credit: Zade Rosenthal / Columbia Pictures]

All of this plays out along what Brown calls “the Path of Illumination.” Centuries ago the Illuminati developed a map (hidden among Rome’s monuments and churches) that leads to their secret lair: the Church of Illumination. The Path of Illumination takes the reader – and the movie viewer – to some of Rome’s most spectacular sites, including the Pantheon (pictured below) and St. Peter’s Basilica.

[Photo credit: A.K. Nickerson]

I love how “Rome’s Angels & Demon’s: The Insider’s Guide to the Locations Featured in the Book and Movie” doesn’t just list movie scene locations. You actually give practical information for tourists wanting to visit the real place.

With “Angels & Demons” as a theme, I wanted travelers to really be able to use this guide. For example, in “Angels & Demons,” one of the pivotal scenes takes place at St. Peter’s tomb beneath St. Peter’s Basilica. But that isn’t a part of the basilica that’s open to the casual traveler. However, if you write away for permission and pay a nominal fee, you can get a guided tour of the Scavi – the excavations underneath the Basilica. It takes some planning, but it’s a fantastic place to visit, and I’ve included information on how to make that happen.

In the same way, there’s nothing more disappointing than arriving at a church to find that it is closed. Santa Maria della Vittoria, the scene of the vicious fight between Langdon and the Hassassin, closes for several hours in the afternoon. That’s important information as travelers plan their days.

Additionally, Dan Brown took some liberties when writing “Angels & Demons,” and some readers are disappointed not to find things exactly as he described. I’m not out to discredit him, but I’ve seen confused visitors in Santa Maria della Vittoria, for example, looking for the sarcophagi, which aren’t on the floor like they are in the book.

In your section “A Word for Travelers,” you point out that some of the locations had to be re-created because the film crew was denied access by the Catholic Church. Do you know which sites in the film were sets? Or at least a few of them?

Generally, the exteriors in the movie were shot in Rome. For example, they shot in the piazza outside the Pantheon, in Piazza del Popolo and in St. Peter’s Square. But the interiors were re-created on a soundstage in L.A. or are done with CG. They were ingenious, though, in re-creating the interiors of each location: the Pantheon, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Santa Maria del Popolo … they even built a full-scale Sistine Chapel on a soundstage.

[Photo: Headed to the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Credit: Zade Rosenthal / Columbia Pictures]

Of course, it would have been better if they’d been able to film inside the churches, but consider what they would have been filming in those locations: grisly executions and fight scenes. Those aren’t the kinds of things that any church, temple or mosque is likely to invite into their building.

Visitors sometimes have to be reminded, too, that they are entering a holy space when they enter a church. It’s easy to cross the threshold at Santa Maria del Popolo excited about seeing “the devil’s hole” and to forget that the place you are visiting is someone else’s house of worship. So I’ve included information about how to dress to enter Italian churches (covered shoulders and knee-length shorts or skirts for both men and women) and a few practical tips about how to be respectful too.

I know that Viator is offering a half-day tour for $74 – are there a ton of “Angels & Demons” tours in Rome right now. Did you take any of them?

No, actually I haven’t. But, “Rome’s Angels & Demons: the Insider’s Guide” is designed as a self-guided tour. And doing it yourself can save a lot of money! Using “Rome’s Angels & Demons,” tourists have all of the information they need to visit each location and can take their time too. Additionally, the book includes biographical information on Raphael, Galileo and Bernini, as well as photographs and a map. Plus, “Rome’s Angels & Demons” was designed to be used on an e-reader or to be printed out for easy reference while on the road.

Additionally, I take small groups of travelers — no more than eight people — to Italy several times each year, and some groups elect to spend a day on the Path of Illumination as part of their trip. We have a great time! For more information about my trips, visit: www.michelangelositaly.com.

Which locations do you think will be the most obvious in the movie?

The Vatican — St. Peter’s Basilica and Square. It is an iconic and monumental place, and while some people may not be able to name it, most people will recognize it. And, of course, there’s the Sistine Chapel too. But I will say that while most people recognize pieces of Michelangelo’s work on the ceiling of the chapel, few realize that those frescoes are just a fraction of the artwork in the room. I’ve been there many times, but walking through the doorway brings me to tears every time. I am looking forward to seeing the film’s re-creation!

[Photo: St. Peter's Basilica. Credit: A.K. Nickerson]

How many locations are featured in your guide, and do you have any favorites?

Favorites? Oh, definitely the Pantheon. It is the first place I visit on each trip to Rome, and generally the last as well. It also happens to be the place where Langdon and Vittoria have a false start, so it’s in the book.

Most of the text focuses on the four churches on the Path of Illumination, Castel Sant’Angelo and the locations within the Vatican. The action in the book and movie largely moves between these six places. Additionally, I’ve included “Where to Find” sections for each of the biographical figures so that, for example, the reader interested in Galileo might visit the place where he stood trial. And there are other related sites as well – more than 30 in all. I’ve created a Google Map with each of the sites marked and snippets of information about them here

Why do you include sites that aren’t in “Angels & Demons,” and is it obvious to the reader that they’re not?

Dan Brown has woven history together with fiction in “Angels & Demons,” but the background he gives on the historical places and people in the novel is not very complete. And rightfully so! He has a plot to move along. But readers of “Angels & Demons” know that there is more to the story, and “Rome’s Angels & Demons” fills in some of the blanks.

For example, Langdon and Vittoria start on their path at Raphael’s tomb. Surely, Raphael was a great painter, and he is buried in the Pantheon, but Brown never mentions that the artist had a thing for the ladies. One day he was painting in Villa Farnesina when his lover, the local baker’s daughter, stopped by. They were seized by passion and started making love right there. Michelangelo came by, saw that they were indisposed, and just decided to do a little work on Raphael’s fresco. I’ve included this story and a note about Villa Farnesina not because they are in “Angels & Demons” but because “Rome’s Angels & Demons” helps travelers also move beyond the book and movie into the heart of the city.

What kind of impact do you think the movie will have on Rome’s tourist sites?

I anticipate that it will be huge. There have been “Angels & Demons” tours of Rome for several years. But I bet that with the movie more people will head to Rome with that express purpose — plus a movie always opens up a new audience.

[Photo credit: Zade Rosenthal / Columbia Pictures]

However, I also think that the churches featured in the book and movie may have to tighten their security for a while. I know that their parishioners have felt quite squeezed at times when tourists aren’t respectful of their worship spaces. So, I’d anticipate some scowling hosts working crowd control — at least for the summer season.

Angela, thanks so much for your time. Readers, here is the link so you can download the free pdf of “Rome’s Angels & Demon’s: The Insider’s Guide to the Locations Featured in the Book and Movie.”

— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Top photo: Piazza Navona. Credit: A.K. Nickerson]

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 at 1:40 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under Arts & Culture, Book Reviews, Europe, Italy, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.