Underground Naples Tour: One City on Top of the Other

Overview

Side by side with the churches, palaces and streets that form the dense urban fabric of Naples, a parallel hidden city unfolds, made up of archaeological remains, crypts filled with skulls, amazing cloisters, streets and tunnels dug over the centuries into the soft tufa volcanic rock. Our journey to discover this fascinating - yet often neglected - side of Naples starts off from Via dei Tribunali. We will then come to the Forum, whose monumental ruins survive in the underground sections of the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore. After a stop at the underground cemetery of the church dedicated to the souls in Purgatory, we will come to the monastery of Santa Chiara, built in the fourteenth century on the site of Roman baths. Then we will explore Via San Gregorio Armeno, a famous street where you can only find shops selling the celebrated "presepe," or elaborate sculpted cribs, as well as Spaccanapoli - the ancient street that traverses the old city centre.