Karen & Kathy - if you can figure it out (and you might need a guide for this), see if you can get into the scavi as part of your trip to the Vatican. Your guide turns you over to a seminary student who walks you through the scavi. It takes about 45 mins to an hour. Our student was from Western Pennsylvania.

St. Peter's is built on top of an ancient Roman cemetery. Those cemeteries are literally arranged as cities for the deceased. They then take you back up and into the tombs for the popes over the last 300 years or so.

I've often thought I'd do a Dan Brown type of tour next time in Rome. I'd walk through some of the routes in "Angels and Demons" or "The DaVinci Code".

Cheers, Anne