Rome (Day 2 or the chase for Angels and Demons)

Wednesday, 12 Aug

With the second day of Rome upon us, Gene and I braved the streets of Rome to view ancient buildings and hunt down the 3 remaining clues given in Dan Brown’s book, ‘Angels and Demons’ that would involve us travelling us through the streets and subways of Rome. Dee declined the offer and stayed home.

The Roman Forum and Emperor’s palace was great. The history that occurred in that small area is amazing.  We looked down upon Circus Maximus and saw just a sandy stretch of land, all that remains of an impressive building 2,000 years ago. Gene was very patient with me and we were off looking for her clues.

It started well as we headed north-west by foot, to Piazza Navona. One turn took us away from our destination but we righted ourselves to munch our lunch in the shade overlooking the Egyptian Obelisk with the dove of peace capping its top. The fountain at its base looked cool and inviting but out of bounds like all of Rome’s fountains. It was also where the cardinal was drowned in the book.

Heading north directly up Via Della Scrota which changed to Via Di Ripetta we found Piazza Del Popolo, the area where we could find the second clue, the skeleton mosaic in the floor of a Church. We were at a quandary, we could see 2 identical Churches but neither had the right name. Asking a police constable, we found out that they were opened at only 4pm, still an hour and half away.

Instead of waiting, we decided to move to the third clue as we could take the train, find it and come back to the second clue before making our way back home. As we navigated around the Piazza’s Egyptian Obelisk which was being repaired, we saw another Church. Was this the one we were after? Closer examination indicated it was so. To the right of the Church was a display of Leonardo De Vinci’s work. It was rumoured, he was Illuminati and we took this as confirmation. To escape the heat, we had fun looking at the display being able to play with the items drawn by the great man himself.

We bought a copy of ‘The Last Supper’, a painting of much controversy. The more you looked, the more saw Mary Magelan sitting at Jesus’ right with Peter making a slashing motion past her throat. The change we received had the Visturi Man image engraved on the face of coin. Surely a sign!

Catching the Metro to Barberini Station, we found the Fontana di Trevi. It wasn’t the third clue but it was ice cold and a welcome respite. We moved on looking for the Church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria, and the statue of The Ecstacy of St Agnes. The Church wasn’t in the Piazza or on any of the maps we could find (I later found out that the place was moved in the book). The police came minutes after we left the fountain, herding the people away from the water we recently cooled ourselves with.

We explored the Church near the Piazza, hoping it was incorrectly named in the book but to no avail. I then used my charm on a female local and she was able to Google Maps the Church, only 9 minutes away. With lightness of foot, we were away!

The Church, like many others in Rome, was small but heavily decorated in marble and gold. There we found St Agnes writhing in ‘Ecstasy’. You decide why…..

Time was running short but we had enough to find the last clue and home by 5pm. The train was caught and the Church entered 10 minutes after it was opened to the public. We found the apse and saw a mosaic of a skeleton but was it sneering? A search of the Church confirmed it being the only skeletal mosaic, sneering or not. We put it down to artistic interpretation. All the clues were found! We were tired, hot and sweaty but now we could return home satisfied of job well done.

 Police consulted and avoided, no attempts made by Gypsies and success with our challenge but foiled at the end by the bus system. When was it due? Every 30 minutes. When was the last one? He didn’t know. So we sat and waited in the shade, sipping our dwindling supply of water. Finally, the bus arrived and we bolted from our seats though the summer sun to the air conditioned bliss of the bus that took us to the doorstop of the caravan park and to an over heated Dee.