Explore the Naples Underground

Natural geothermal activity and high pressure beneath the city of Naples have created a geologic environment ideally suited for mining sandstone, which naturally became a popular building material during the centuries of growth and expansion of Napoli. Extensive mining created underwater caves, which came to be used as cisterns, and then led to further development of tunnels and underground structures. In truth, Naples sits atop a massive honeycomb of these caves and caverns, and they have been integral to the above ground history and survival of the city. 

Today, this network of tunnels that includes sewers and aqueducts, cisterns and reservoirs, and rail and subway tunnels, also includes incredible historic artifacts, like the remains of Greco-Roman architecture buried in mudslides, the ruins of a theater built by Nero, and pre-Christian burial chambers and places of worship.

Underground Tour

Tours of the Naples Underground are an increasingly popular activity when visiting Naples and we have been fortunate to collaborate with a fantastic group of licensed expert guides who provide a spectacular visit into the Underground over the years. The tour generally includes:

• The Greek-Roman Aqueducts. These cisterns, caves, and tunnels have supplied water to Naples for more than 23 centuries, and are fascinating to this day.
• Air raid shelters: In the Second World War, Naples expanded access to their underground tunnels to serve as air raid shelters, and several artifacts from the period are gathered into a subterranean War Museum.
• The Hypogeum Gardens: Naples is exploring the possibilities of underground gardening, and the experimental vegetable gardens below the city are attracting international scientific and academic interest.
• The remains of the Roman Theater: The ancient theater of Neapolis had a private dressing room just for the Emperor Nero during his visits to the city.
• Summa cavea: In another portion of the Roman Theater, excavation uncovered sacred objects and nativity scenes, that are now on display, as well as tile-lined drain sewers dating back to the Bourbon period. 

The Macellum of Naples

During the 4^th or 5^th century BC, the Greeks built a market street beside what was then the Agora of Naples. Later the Romans continued to use it as a macellum and conduct business there. In the 5^th century AD, the structure was covered by a landslide. A basilica was built on top of the landslide, and over the centuries the site was continually used for various buildings, until in the 13^th century, the present-day San Lorenzo Maggiore was built on the site. These churches had the effect of concealing, but also of preserving, the ruins below.

Over the past 25 years, painstaking excavation has revealed more and more of these ancient structures. The church and monastery of San Lorenzo Maggiore were already extraordinary, and worth visiting, but now a significant portion of the space is given to a museum of the discoveries revealed during excavations on the site.

If you visit Naples and only see what is above the surface, you are only getting part of the picture. Much of the unique history, ancient technology, and complex culture of Naples actually lies concealed below, and an underground tour is a fascinating way to gain more insight and understanding of this unique city.