Any Templar / Illuminati related sightseeing recommendations?

The Illuminati was a fraternal organization that existed for a brief period of time in Bavaria during the 1700s (despite what Dan Brown might claim), so I don't think you'll see any of their remnants in France, Italy or even Bavaria.

You might try looking for Dan Brown theme tours in the countries you are visiting - there was an Angels and Demons themed tour for Rome a few years ago. It's not that easy to chase fiction, but it can be done.

Or you could look for real history (not that the Templars aren't, but you can find more Templar sites further - much further - east).

In the Jura department in France (east) there is a small village called Dramelay. On the hill above it are the ruins of a castle, a medieval chapel (not ruined, but it does seem a bit neglected), and in the woods that now cover the hill the ruins of the old medieval village (although I think it was only fully abandoned in the mid 20th century). It's great to explore as it's absolutely not touristy so you can have the place to yourself. Make sure you have good shoes and are dressed accordingly as the place is quite overgrown with trees and undergrowth and its obviously an uphill walk to get there.

Anyway in the middle ages the castle was owned by the Dramelay family who were at one point members of the Knights Templar, one of whom even went to the Holy Land during one of the crusades. So that's the Templar link, and on top of that it's quite an interesting place to explore.

Checking this website (https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=z-hVrj1D2sy4.krpWNyREzq_g&ie=UTF8&msa=0&z=3&om=1) you can see there really aren't that many in France and only one in Italy. I'm not sure how accurate this map is but it's something to look at.

Ian and Nancy:

Awesome tips! Thank you!!!! :)

I've just looked up some more detailed info on Dramelay on the French wikipedia.

"Bernard de Dramelay, Grand Maître du Temple en 1152, meurt au siège d'Ascalon en Palestine le 16 aout 1153."

Translation: Bernard de Dramelay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, died at the Siege of Ascalon in Palestine August 16th 1153.

So it would seem that he was very high up in the Templar hierarchy. Unfortunately there is not much left of the castle, it's pretty much just a tower covered in shrubbery (unless they've cleared it up a little since I was last there, which I presume they do from time to time to prevent foliage from damaging the masonry). We used to go up there occasionally with my family to look around the ruins, admire the view from the top of the hill, and have a picnic. Each time we went we were the only ones there. The chapel was open to the public (again, with nobody in there but us), I remember it seemed quite sinister to me for some reason. Unfortunately at one point some vandals had prised up a flagstone and had dug a shallow hole, presumably looking for the fabled Templar treasure (why they chose that exact spot I don't know. This was before the Da Vinci Code came out by the way).

I wouldn't go miles out of my way to see it, but if you are in that part of France and want to see something in connection with the Templars, it's worth seeing. You will need a car to get there, it's in the middle of nowhere. The inhabitants now live at the bottom of the hill in a tiny little village, I presume that that's where most of the stones from the castle and the ruined village on the hill went.

The ruined village is fun to explore, I remember going into the basement of one of the houses - creepy but fun!

Very interesting Ian.

You are good at describing moments and context :D

There's a nice sign in the Cathedral Saint Maurice in Vienne commemorating the supprima of the Templars by Pope Clement V; I suspect that you would get more juicy tidbits if you took the time to go through the dissertation lists from Medieval and French departments that lean toward economic history -- look at the PhD submissions of the top ten French departments for leads.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Rennes-le-Château yet! :-)

One version has it that the mysterious treasure was the lost treasure of the Templars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennes-le-Ch%C3%A2teau

Great catch Thomas!

That is VERY cool. Thanks!