Underground cities in Italy: the 12 most beautiful ones to visit

Almost all Italian cities hide secret tunnels, underground halls and ancient cities underneath. Some are well known, such as underground Naples, others less so. They all have in common a history of layering and building the new on top of the ruins of the old.

Which are the most beautiful underground cities? Here are the most beautiful ones to visit in Italy.

The most beautiful underground cities in Italy

• Hypogeum of Dino Compagni, Rome

• Naples Underground

• Milan Underground

• Turin Underground

• Trieste Underground

• Orvieto

• Siena

• Palermo

• Narni

• Camerano

• Matera

• Bologna

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Italy's 12 underground cities to visit

• Hypogeum of Dino Compagni, Rome

The Hypogeum of Dino Compagni in Rome, also known as the Catacomb of Via Latina, is actually an underground necropolis. Excavated outside the walls of Rome, it is part of the complex and extensive network of catacombs in the eternal city. But it has something special. In it, pagan and Christian tombs belonging to wealthy members of the same family coexist. They bear witness to the cultural transition and do so in an opulent manner with beautiful, well-preserved frescoes and spacious burial chambers. You enter through a manhole.

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• Naples Underground

Forty metres below the historic centre of Naples is a world apart. Explore the ancient Carmignano aqueduct, walking through the cisterns built by the Greeks and the labyrinth of tunnels that connected more than 4000 wells. You descend beneath churches and palaces and come across the remains of a Roman theatre. The two main entrances to the site are from Piazza San Gaetano, in the Decumano Maggiore, and from Via Sant'Anna di Palazzo, in the Chiaia district.

Don't miss a visit to the evocative and mystical Fontanelle cemetery, created in the quarries of the Sanità district in the 17th century and used for a unique and singular cult.

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• Underground Milan

Milan also has its own underground city, did you know? Like Venice, it is full of canals and the ancient liquid network lies beneath the streets and squares.

The network of tunnels is connected to the power centre of the time, the Castello Sforzesco. Sights: the crypt of S. Giovanni in Conca, what remains of an early Christian basilica in Milan's Piazza Missori. Here you will find all the info on curious places to see in Milan.

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• Underground Turin

Among 18th-century military tunnels (the one where Pietro Micca died in the 1706 siege is famous), air-raid shelters, royal ice-houses and infernotti, underground Turin is well worth a visit. The best entry point is the Pietro Micca Museum.

• Underground Trieste

The Kleine Berlin is the largest complex of underground anti-aircraft tunnels, dating back to World War II, still existing in Trieste. The complex is located practically in the city centre, at the base of the Scorcola hill, specifically at the beginning of Via Fabio Severo, opposite No. 11.

• Underground Orvieto

In 2500 years of excavation, the inhabitants of Orvieto have created a dense tangle of tunnels. A network of caves lies in the darkness of the cliff, a precious reservoir of historical and archaeological information that has remained unchanged.

Visit the Pozzo di San Patrizio (St Patrick's Well), which represents in its dizzying depths the circles of Christian Hell.

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• Siena

The bottini of Siena are the underground tunnels built in the 13th-15th centuries for water supply.

The tunnels extend for about 25 km and are mostly dug into the rock. The walls are covered with calcium incrustations, stalactites and stalagmites.

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• Perugia

Under the soil of Perugia, there exists a city even more ancient than what can be admired on the surface: a hidden world where speleology and archaeology intertwine with history and where a wealth of precious treasures is revealed to the eyes of visitors. The Rocca Paolina is still used as a pedestrian path crossed by escalators and as a venue for markets and exhibitions.

• Palermo

Under the soil of Palermo unravel kilometres of tunnels built by the Arabs to irrigate the fertile fields of the Conca d'Oro. Beneath the palaces you can find tunnels and artificial caves, called Grotte Scirocco, which were built to create coolness to combat the hot summer days.

Worth seeing: the Catacombs of the Capuchins, the Catacombs of Porta d' Ossuta and the Catacombs of Villagrazia di Carini.

• Narni

In Narni, you can participate in a guided tour of the city's underground passages. During this visit, you can admire the underground rooms of the ancient convent complex of San Domenico, the underground church frescoed in the 13th and 15th centuries, a Roman cistern and a cell full of graffiti made by inmates of the Inquisition tribunal.

• Camerano

Hidden beneath the surface of Camerano are two kilometres of interstices and hallways, carved into the sandstone and tuff. From the town's tourist office, a small doorway opens onto steps. One thinks of a Knights Templar presence.

• Matera

The subsoil of the historical centre of Matera is criss-crossed by an aqueduct dug into the rock, made up of channels, settling tanks and 'palombari', i.e. immense water cisterns, so large that they have been called 'water cathedrals'.

This complex system of water collection starts from the De Montigny hill, where the Tramontano castle stands today, and crosses, from top to bottom, the entire historic centre.

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• Bologna

Once upon a time, Bologna was not too different from Venice, full of canals, boats and freshwater sailors crowding the city. This wonder of the past is simply hidden underground. Lose yourself in the journey of the Aposa torrent, 800 metres underground from Roman Bologna in the 1st century BC to Bologna in the 2nd century BC.

BC to the Bologna of World War II.

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