Naples has more layers of history underground than above it. The cisterns dug by the Greeks in the 4th century BC run beneath every building of the historic center. This is the complete guide to underground Naples.
Plan my Italy trip →Naples is built on Naples. The subsoil of the historic center holds one of the most complex underground systems in the world: cisterns dug by the Greeks in the 4th century BC and enlarged by the Romans, early-Christian catacombs of the 2nd-6th centuries AD, Bourbon tunnels of the 19th century, and air-raid shelters of the Second World War. Underground Naples isn't a minor tourist attraction, it's the history of the city in three dimensions, accessible under the feet of anyone walking the Decumani.
La "Napoli Sotterranea" come attrazione organizzata ha il suo ingresso principale a Piazza San Gaetano 68, in the heart of the historic center (next to the church of San Paolo Maggiore, on the axis of the Decumano Maggiore). The guided tours (about 80 minutes, in Italian and English, groups of 20-30 people) leave every hour from roughly 10:00 to 18:00. Ticket €13 adults. The route descends through a 19th-century tunnel to the Greco-Roman cisterns, then to the galleries that were air-raid shelters during the Allied bombing of 1943. What you see: the cisterns with their hand-cut tufa walls, the connecting shafts rising to the buildings above (used as medieval rubbish chutes and then as light wells), the Greek/Roman theater of Neapolis beneath the church of San Paolo Maggiore (visible through grates in the floor of the crypt), and the remains of the original Greek theater still buried under the ground-floor dwellings of Via San Paolo.
Oltre alla Napoli Sotterranea principale di Piazza San Gaetano, esistono diversi altri percorsi ipogei indipendenti: Bourbon Tunnel (Vico del Grottone 4, Piazza Trieste e Trento, €15, standard tour 70 min, adventure tour with kayak in the flooded galleries €35): the Bourbon tunnel dug in 1853 by King Ferdinand II of Bourbon as an escape route between the Royal Palace and the military barracks, which in WWII became a store for 200 abandoned period vehicles, today visible at the end of the route. Catacombe di San Gennaro (Via Capodimonte 13, €10, the largest catacombs in southern Italy, 11,000 m² of corridors on two levels with early-Christian frescoes of the 2nd-6th centuries, including the oldest identifiable portrait of San Gennaro, 4th century AD). Catacombe di San Gaudioso (beneath the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità, Piazza della Sanità, €9, excellent guides from the La Paranza social cooperative). Which to choose: Napoli Sotterranea of Piazza San Gaetano for the Greco-Roman history; Bourbon Tunnel for the Bourbon history and the period vehicles; Catacombs of San Gennaro for the early-Christian art.
Neapolis (the "New City" founded by the people of Cumae around 470 BC on an earlier settlement called Partenope) was a city planned on a standard Greek orthogonal grid, three decumani (east-west streets) crossed by cardines (north-south streets). The Neapolitan yellow tufa subsoil was the natural building material: cut into regular blocks for the walls and the buildings, it left regular cavities underground that were immediately converted into rainwater cisterns. The Roman aqueduct built later (1st century BC, the Bolla d'Acqua that carried water from the Serino in Irpinia) connected to this pre-existing system of cisterns, enlarging it. The result: an underground water network that served the city through a network of 400+ private wells (one in every house) connected to the common cisterns. This system worked for 2,000 years, from the 4th century BC until the cholera epidemic of 1884, when the engineer of the Risanamento of Naples (Lamont Young) reclaimed and closed the cisterns for sanitary reasons. In WWII the cisterns, closed for 60 years, were reopened as air-raid shelters, the constant temperature of 15°C and the meters-thick tufa walls made them ideal.
The Catacombs of San Gennaro (Via Capodimonte 13, on the Capodimonte hill above the historic center, bus 178 from Piazza Dante) are the largest catacombs in southern Italy and the ones with the greatest concentration of original early-Christian art. Opened in the 2nd century AD as a burial place for the Neapolitan Christian community, they reached their greatest extent in the 4th-5th centuries when the body of San Gennaro was moved there (the bishop martyred around 305 AD during the persecution of Diocletian). The flow of pilgrims tied to the cult of the saint funded the decoration of the cubicula with mosaics and frescoes. The most extraordinary: the portrait of San Gennaro in the cubiculum of bishop Quodvultdeus (4th century AD), the oldest identifiable portrait of the saint, with the Greek caption "Ianuarius episcopus martyr." The current management (the La Paranza cooperative, founded by the young people of the Rione Sanità) is one of the best Italian examples of tourism as a tool of urban regeneration: the tickets and donations fund cultural activities in the quarter.
The Bourbon Tunnel (Vico del Grottone 4, entrance from Piazza Trieste e Trento / Via Morelli) is a unique experience in Europe: a tunnel designed by the Bourbon court architect Errico Alvino for Ferdinand II in 1853 as a safe escape route between the Royal Palace and the military barracks of Via Morelli, with a branch toward the harbor. The tunnel was partly completed (the Royal Palace-Via Morelli section) and never used for the escape. During the Second World War it became the largest air-raid shelter in Naples (capacity 10,000 people) and a store for 200 military and civilian vehicles requisitioned for the war effort and abandoned afterward. These vehicles, American military trucks, motorcycles, middle-class cars of the 1940s, were still in the tunnel at the time of its discovery and restoration (2005), and are now visible at the end of the route. To answer the question: yes, the Bourbon Tunnel is worth the €15 for the exceptional nature of the content (the period vehicles in a Bourbon tunnel) and for the quality of the guide.
The optimal route for combining underground Naples with the historic center: 9:00, Napoli Sotterranea of Piazza San Gaetano (book the first tour, 10:00 is the first slot; arrive 15 min early to buy the ticket or book online at napolisotterranea.org). 11:30, Duomo of Naples (Via del Duomo 147, free, the Minutolo and Tocco chapels with 14th-century frescoes, the Chapel of San Gennaro with the case holding the ampoules of blood). 13:00, Lunch on the Decumani (Via dei Tribunali, the street of Neapolitan street food: fried pizza at Antonia, a cuoppo of fried food at Friggitoria Vomero, sfogliatella riccia at Attanasio). 15:00, Spaccanapoli walk (Via San Biagio dei Librai east toward San Gregorio Armeno, the street of the nativity-scene figurines). 17:00, Bourbon Tunnel (tour 70 min, ultimo ingresso intorno alle 18:30). 19:00, Aperitivo nel Quartiere Spagnolo.
Italy's food markets are the primary expression of Italian food culture, the context in which ingredients are selected, priced, and understood before they become restaurant dishes. The essential markets: Rialto Market Venice (Pescaria, 7am-noon Tuesday-Saturday, the finest fish market in Italy, the source for virtually every serious Venice restaurant, the fish laid on beds of seaweed and ice in the styles unchanged from the 16th century); Quadrilatero Bologna (Via Drapperie/Via Clavature, Monday-Saturday morning, the densest concentration of Emilian food in physical space: Parmigiano Reggiano wheels, prosciutto crudo hanging in rows, mortadella of correct size, tortellini made by hand visible through shop windows); Mercato Centrale Florence (Piazza del Mercato Centrale, the ground floor until 2pm, the upstairs food hall until midnight, the ground floor is the authentic market; the upstairs food hall is high-quality tourist-oriented); Mercato di Testaccio Rome (Via Beniamino Franklin, Tuesday-Saturday, the working-class Rome market where the quinto quarto tradition (offal) is most visible and the prices are local rather than tourist); Pescheria di Catania (Piazza del Duomo, Sicily, the most theatrical fish market in Italy, the swordfish lying whole on tables, the vendors in operatic competition with each other for customers).
Buy a local SIM card or activate international roaming before arriving. Not for social media, for offline navigation. The combination of Google Maps offline data (downloadable before departure) with a data connection for real-time transport updates, restaurant opening times, and museum booking confirmations transforms Italy logistics from stressful to manageable. The specific benefit: the Italian train network (Trenitalia) provides real-time platform information via app that is often different from the information displayed at stations; having app access prevents missed connections. The offline navigation benefit: the historic centers of Venice, Florence, Rome, and the smaller medieval cities are labyrinthine, the confidence of confirmed GPS navigation reduces the time spent lost from an Italian average of 40 minutes per day to approximately 5 minutes. Italian operators (TIM, Vodafone Italy) sell SIM cards at airports and train stations; EU citizens can use their home operator data roaming at domestic rates throughout Italy.
(1) Tipping is not mandatory in Italy, the coperto covers service; rounding up the bill is appreciated but not expected. (2) ZTL zones (Limited Traffic Zones) in historic city centers issue automatic fines to unauthorized vehicles, if driving a hire car, know the ZTL hours before entering any walled city center. (3) Museums close on different days, the Uffizi closes Monday; the Vatican Museums close Sunday (except last Sunday of the month when they're free and enormous); national museums close Tuesday. (4) The aperitivo hour is real and generous, in Milan especially, paying for one drink gives access to a buffet that constitutes a full dinner. (5) Italian coffee is served at the bar standing, sitting at a café table doubles or triples the coffee price (you're paying for the seat). (6) Churches have dress codes, shoulders and knees must be covered for entry to all Catholic churches; security at major churches (Vatican, St. Mark's, Duomo) enforces this without exceptions. (7) Most Italian pharmacies (farmacie) display a green cross and are staffed by pharmacists trained to advise on medication and minor ailments without a prescription, they are the first resort for minor health issues. (8) The Italian train network is excellent on the main lines but slow on regional lines, Frecciarossa between major cities is fast and reliable; regional trains between smaller towns can be slow, infrequent, and cancelled without notice. (9) Water from Rome's drinking fountains (nasoni) is clean, free, and better-tasting than bottled water, the Roman water supply has been continuous since the first aqueducts of 312 BC; carry a refillable bottle. (10) Most Italian restaurants are closed in the afternoon (approximately 2:30-7:30pm), arriving at 4pm expecting lunch will produce a closed door. The Italian meal schedule: colazione (breakfast, 7-9am), pranzo (lunch, 12:30-2:30pm), aperitivo (6-8pm), cena (dinner, 8-10:30pm).
Five Italian food myths that produce disappointment or embarrassment: (1) "Alfredo sauce" is Italian, it is not. Fettuccine Alfredo (pasta with butter and Parmesan, named for a Roman restaurant in the 1920s that became internationally famous primarily through American celebrity visitors) is not a standard Italian dish. No serious Italian trattoria serves it. The American version (with cream) doesn't exist in Italy at all. (2) Cappuccino after noon, Italians do not drink cappuccino after 11am. It is a breakfast drink. Ordering one after lunch signals immediate tourist status. After noon: espresso, macchiato, or americano. (3) Pepperoni pizza is Italian, "peperoni" in Italian means bell peppers, not cured sausage. The American "pepperoni" (spiced cured pork sausage on pizza) is an Italian-American invention, not found in Italy. Ordering pepperoni pizza in Italy produces a pizza with bell peppers. (4) Bruschetta is pronounced "broo-SHET-ta", it is "broo-SKET-ta" (Italian "ch" before "e" and "i" is always "k"). (5) Italian pasta is always served al dente, correct in theory, but regional variation exists. Southern Italian pasta tends to be slightly softer than northern Italian; Neapolitan pasta tradition is marginally more cooked than Milanese.
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