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So, today’s the big day!  Ron Howard’s Angels & Demons was released in Rome on Wednesday, 13 May and today it opens in theaters around the U.S.A.  We’re betting that lots of eCoolers will be dashing off to see the flick, if not for the suspense and action, then for the fantastic views of Rome that the movie is sure to offer.

As many of you will know, author Dan Brown published the book in 2000, but it didn’t really take off until after the DaVinci Code hit the bestseller list in 2003.  Since about 2003, however, Angels & Demons has become particularly popular with visitors to Rome, who “let the angels be their guide” as they make their way around the Eterna.

The novel revolves around the quest of fictional Harvard University symbologist Robert Langdon (also featured in the DaVinci Code) to uncover the mysteries of a secret society called the Illuminati who are murdering Cardinals as part of a plot to annihilate Vatican City using destructive antimatter.

In order to prevent the destruction of the Vatican, Langdon sets off on the Path of Illumination in hopes of uncovering clues as to the disappearance of Cardinals and the location of the antimatter canister.   The Path leads Langdon to four major locations in Rome, each marked by an artwork crafted by 17th-century superstar sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini, and each associated with what the Illuminati believed to be the four primordial elements of all things in existence: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.

It’s those artworks by Bernini (as well as some other pretty fabulous masterpieces of art and architecture) that Angels & Demons tourists come to see–and who can blame them? Of course, many such visitors are also interested in the long histories of Rome and the Catholic Church and as they traipse along the Path of Illumination, they find themselves asking questions that Dan Brown hasn’t answered in his novel.  So what to do?

Here at the eCool Compound, we have the answer!  We’ve just discovered that our friend Angela Nickerson, author of a lovely book called A Journey into Michelangelo’s Rome (which, by the way, makes a great guidebook to Renaissance Rome) has teamed up with Roaring Forties press to publish Rome’s Angels & Demons: an Insider’s Guide — a free ebook with inside information about the art and places in Dan Brown’s book.

Rome’s Angels & Demons: An Insider’s Guide is filled with information about the historical figures, churches, artwork, and locations that figure prominently in Angels & Demons.  With maps, visitor information, photographs, and in-depth insights, it is a great guide to the city of Rome and the fascinating world Dan Brown has created.

To find out more about this free guide — great on Kindle or any e-reader, but also formatted so that you can print it and take it to Rome with you — visit Angela’s Just Go blog where she’s throwing a launch party that includes a Twitter-to-enter contest by which you might just win some fabulous Roman stuff, including a copy of her Michelangelo book and some eCool Sigg Bottles!  You can also download the book from the Roaring Forties Press website.  Remember, it’s absolutely free!