Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
even older Greek urn. A minimum number of six participants is required for these adven-
tures, which run on weekends and last three hours.
Minimum numbers are not an issue for the
city's more touristy underground tours, run by
Napoli Sotterranea (
Click here
)
and Borbon-
ica Sotterranea. While Borbonica Sotterranea's
Tunnel Borbonico (
Click here
)
conducts tours
of the Bourbon tunnel running beneath Mt
Echia (home to Naples' earliest settlement),
Napoli Sotterranea takes a steady stream of
visitors below the
centro storico
for a look at remnants of a Roman theatre frequented by
Emperor Nero, as well as to a cistern returned to its original, water-filled splendour.
To dig deeper into the region's subterranean scene, check out the information-packed
website
www.napoliunderground.org
.
Naples' original Graeco-Roman city was
covered by a great mudslide in the 6th century.
The excavations to open the Roman market
beneath the Complesso Monumentale di San
Lorenzo Maggiore took 25 years.
FULVIO SALVI & LUCA CUTTITTA, SPELEOLOGISTS
Dubbed everything from 'the parallel city' to 'the negative city', Neapolitan speleologists Fulvio and
Luca prefer to call Naples' subterranean world '
la macchina del tempo'
(the time machine). As Fulvio
explains, 'In 30 to 40 metres you're transported from the 21st century to 2000 BC. Some of the axe
pick marks on the
tufo
stone predate Christ himself.'
For Fulvio and Luca, the constant possibility of new discoveries is addictive: 'We can descend into
the same cistern 30 times and still find new objects, like oil lamps used by the Greek and Roman ex-
cavators'.
One of their most memorable discoveries to date was made after stumbling across an unusual look-
ing staircase behind an old chicken coop in an old
palazzo
(large building) in the district of Arinella.
As Fulvio recalls, 'I headed down the stairs and through a hole in the wall. Reaching the bottom, I
switched on my torch and was quickly dumbstruck to find carved columns and frescoes of the ancient
Egyptian deities Isis, Osiris and Seth on the walls. We believe we've found part of the Secretorum
Naturae Accademia, the laboratory used by scholar, alchemist and playwright Giambattista della Porta
(c 1535-1615) after the Inquisition ordered an end to his experiments'.
Speleological associations like NUg (Napoli Underground Group) play a vital role in preserving
Naples' collective heritage: 'There are between 10 to 15 NUg members, each with a specific role to
play on our expeditions, from photographer or filmmaker to medical support. We're like a well-oiled
machine whose role is to sew up the little tears in our city's history. It's a bit like a puzzle and each
new passageway or cistern we find is a piece of that puzzle that we're trying to put together. It's too
