Rome – Angels & Demons

When Visited

• Nov 2014

Angels & Demons Locations in Rome

As mentioned elsewhere, while I decided to not take one of the numerous guided Angels & Demons tours around Rome, I was nonetheless interested in trying to find the major book and filming locations on my own.  As the picture above, and those also in the link below will show, I was able to find the sites for all four main locations – Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

Earth:  Bernini’s statue Habbakuk and the Angel in the Chigi Chapel, which is inside of the Santa Maria del Popolo

Air:  The West Ponente marker on the ground in the middle of Bernini designed Piazza San Pedro (St. Peter’s Square)

Fire:  Bernini’s statue:  The Ecstacy of St. Theresa inside Santa Maria della Vitoria

Water:  Bernini’s Fontana del Quatrro Fuomi (the Fountain of Four Rivers) in the Piazza Navona.

• FYI, the four rivers represented by the statues are the Nile (Northeast Africa), the Danube (Eastern Europe), the Ganges (India) and the Rio della Plata (Argentina & Uruguay).
• Included in the link on Photobucket, under the folder Rome – Angels & Demons, is a short video I took as I circled the entire Fountain of Four Rivers.

Finding the locations on your own while in Rome

If you want to be a bit more adventurous, and would like to try and find the main locations on your own (as I did), here are the main locations of the movie once again, and a bit of directions to find them.

Earth.  This is the location where one of the Cardinals was murdered when he was suffocated by dirt.  It is in the Basilica Santa Maria del Popolo.  The murder takes place near the clue of the statue of Habbakuk and the Angel  which is in the small, Chigi Chapel which is to your left as you enter the basilica.  The murder actually takes place below this little chapel but the hole to get there is in Brown’s imagination, I would assume.  To get there, find your way to the Piazza del Popolo.  It is located a bit northeast of the Vatican, and just west of the Villa Bourgese.  The Santa Maria del Popolo basilica is on the north side of the piazza.

Air.  This is the location where another of the Cardinals was murdered, this time by puncturing his lungs so he eventually could not breathe.  The clue is the West Ponente marker which is on the ground surrounding the obelisk in St Peter’s Square.

Fire.  This is where the third of the cardinals is murdered, this time by hanging above a fire set beneath him.  This takes place in the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Vitoria, in the Cornaro Chapel.  The clue is the Ecstacy of St. Theresa statue by Bernini.  The Santa Maria della Vitoria is located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Via Leonida Bissolati and the Via Vente Settembre. This is in more or less central Rome, directly east of St. Peter’s and southeast of the Basilica anta Maria del Popolo (Earth).  It is also not far northeast of the Roma Termini – the main Metro station.

Water.  This is where the murder of the fourth Cardinal was attempted, but foiled by Robert Langdon.  It takes place in the water of the Fontana di Quartro Fuomi (the Fountain of Four Rivers).  This fountain is located in the Piazza Navona and is the center of the three, separate fountains that are in Piazza Navona.  The Piazza Navona is located southeast of St Peter’s and almost south of the Castel St Angelo which also plays a role in Angels & Demons.  I got off the Hop On/Hop Off bus near Castel St Angelo and walked first to Piazza Navona and then continued on east to the Pantheon, yet another major location in the book.  If you have some time and enjoy walking, the Trevi Fountain is not too much further northeast of the Pantheon.

Pictures from Rome – Angels and Demons …

http://s937.photobucket.com/user/rwkoehler/slideshow/Italy%20-%20Oct-Nov%202014/Rome%20-%20Angels%20and%20Demons?sort=3

Tips when Using Photobucket

• The previous links will take you directly to a slideshow of pictures and collages, related to the locations, which reside on the internet on the Photobucket.com website.
• Once the slideshow begins, the display begins showing slides at a Medium speed.
  • Slow displays each slide for 10 seconds
  • Medium displays each slide for 6 seconds
  • Fast displays each slide for 3 seconds
• To change the display speed, click on the word Slow, Medium or Fast at the bottom right of the Photobucket screen.
• To non-display the bottom toolbar, and thereby maximize the picture on your screen, click on the      icon at the bottom right of the Photobucket screen.
• To display, or to redisplay a specific slide, you may click on the thumbnail at the bottom of the Photobucket screen.
• To Pause the display at a specific picture, click on the       icon at the lower left of the Photobucket screen.