Rome discovers a new breed of tourist

[emad]

Sophie Arie in Rome
Monday December 27, 2004
The Guardian

The next time the Pope addresses crowds in St Peter's Square, he may see tourists with paperbacks by the blockbuster conspiracy novelist Dan Brown, rather than Catholic pilgrims with Bibles or guidebooks.

The first "official Angels and Demons tour", organised by a group of 30-something Romans specialising in the "darker side of Rome", will tomorrow show visitors the Roman sites used by the author of The Da Vinci Code.

Since The Da Vinci Code became a global success, with more than 8m copies sold, the author's previous novels have become bestsellers too. Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress, and Deception Point were all in the top five UK paperback fiction list in the run-up to Christmas.

"We have noticed in the past few months that lots of tourists, mainly American and British, have started coming to Rome just to see the sites in Angels and Demons," said Simone Gozzi, head of the Dark Heart of Rome association. "Dan Brown certainly moves the masses."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1379937,00.html