Last year, I made my annual pilgrimage to Europe, and Rome was one of the cities on my agenda. On the trip with me, I had a book called Angels & Demons by Dan Brown, apparently a book written before the more famed The Da Vinci Code by the same author.

Little did I know that this book would be so deeply rooted in Rome. As I read on, I realized that the story unfolded amidst the same streets and piazzas that I had visited the day before or planning to visit. Be it St. Peter’s, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and even the famous Tazza d’Oro Casa del Caffe – all were sites I would enjoy during the day, and read about at night. It was surreal.

With the release of the movie Angels and Demons, I relived some of those memories recently. Rome is an exceptional city and arguably even more romantic than Paris. With cobble-stone streets and narrow walk-ways giving way to a large piazza, fountains and statues erected every few blocks, Rome is truly ancient Europe at its best and most historical.

If you haven’t already, I recommend reading Angels and Demons. It is a good way to get some additional details on the different monuments and churches in Rome that some travel guides may have left out.

Happy Roaming!