Italy still attracts people to its fertile land and pleasant climate today, but people were living lives of abundance in this gorgeous country more than two thousand years ago. What I’m getting at is that the Greeks arrived here first with their sophisticated culture, followed by the Etruscans with their advanced technology, followed by a thousand years of the Roman Empire where civilization continued to flourish.

One of the cities where you can see all of this history is Naples. They even have interesting tours where you can catch glimpses of the old underground city and how it developed since before the Common Era to the modern day. There are several different types of underground tours of Naples available, and all of them offer quite satisfying experiences.

Underground Naples is huge and full of history and functionality. It’s amazing how developed it all is.

The Greeks, having expanded their civilization into Naples, called it Neápolis, or “new city”. As they started developing it, they excavated a type of rock made of volcanic ash called tuff to build their temples and other structures. Rocks made of hardened volcanic ash were easy to process, making them perfect for construction. Does this talk of volcanic rock remind you of something? You got it—with Mt. Vesuvius being just nine kilometers from the town, using tuff certainly makes sense. As they kept mining it and mining it, they were eventually able to construct an entire town complete with protective walls, theaters, and more. They could then use the excavated underground areas for things like warehouses and burials.

The Greeks and Etruscans traded closely with one another, and Naples is a fascinating place to study the vestiges of Etruscan society as well—the famous ruins of Pompeii are just 23 kilometers from the city.

That brings us to Naples during the Roman Empire. The underground parts of Naples that the Greeks had excavated made it possible to install their groundbreaking aqueduct projects. In Naples, they just had to dig a little deeper in order to bring in water all the way from Serino, a town some 70 kilometers away! Ancient Rome and ancient Naples had the most sophisticated underground water systems in Italy.

The aqueducts were also designed so that inspectors and builders could travel alongside them, with walkways built right next to the walls. They would put pond fish in them to inspect the water quality. If the fish died, they would conclude that the water was polluted and replace what was in the reservoirs with fresh water. This level of creativity and technical expertise boggles the mind.

The way people used the underground space in Naples changed over the generations. Air-raid shelters were set up down there during the World War II era, and there are still remains of structures designed to hold as many escaping citizens as possible. Naples got bombed more than any other Italian city during the war, but thanks to the shelters, it also had the most survivors.

That said, there were some drawbacks to having the underground city, too. When cholera later swept the country, Naples suffered more deaths than anywhere in Italy as the disease traveled rapidly through the city.

The history of Naples is full of fascinating tales—far too many to write about. Maybe you’re starting to understand what the saying “see Naples and die” really means?


I guess with this post it’s more like, “see underground Naples and die”. The underground tour takes you down 40 meters, through narrow passageways with walls closing in on both sides. It’s so tight that you’ll give up partway if you’re claustrophobic. Some places aren’t lit, either… so it also has all the elements of a thrilling adventure!