Napoli Sotterranea

You go down 136 steps, low and with handrails, to a depth of about 40 m. (One answer in the association's FAQ says 121 steps; plan for the higher number.) The main route, about an hour, covers:

• The Greek quarries and cisterns. Cavities cut into the tuff from the 4th century BC, used to supply the city's water for about 23 centuries.
• The wartime shelters. During the Second World War the empty cisterns became air-raid shelters. A small War Museum shows objects from that period.
• The candlelit passage. A very narrow unlit tunnel, walked by candle, leading to a Roman cistern that still holds water. It is optional. If you skip it, you wait on benches for about 10 minutes while the group goes through.
• The underground gardens and the room where the association's seismic monitoring station was installed.

The rooms are large and lit, and the floor is level. The FAQ recommends flat shoes and, in warm months, a sweatshirt. Photos are allowed. Food is not; one small bottle of water is.

Included in the ticket is a visit of about 20 minutes to part of the Greco-Roman theater of Neapolis. From the 15th century, houses were built into its curved walls along Via Anticaglia, Vico Cinquesanti and Via San Paolo, and the theater disappeared from view. You enter a basso, a ground-floor Neapolitan home, and a guide moves a bed and opens a trapdoor into the rooms beneath.

The association says these were Nero's private dressing rooms when he came to perform in Naples. That is the operator's story; treat it as color rather than established history. A second section, the summa cavea in a former carpentry workshop on Vico Cinquesanti, shows another fragment of the theater's curve with about thirty antique display cases of nativity figures.

• Claustrophobia. The main spaces are large. Only the candlelit passage is tight, and it is optional.
• Children. Allowed at any age; under-5s are free. Candles are not given to children. Strollers must be left at the entrance.
• Older visitors. The FAQ says the route suits them, with handrails on the stairs, but the 136 steps each way are the real test.
• Wheelchairs and walkers. Not accessible: no lift, stairs and narrow historic passages. The association asks visitors with disabilities to contact it before visiting.
• Leaving early. You can stop the visit at any point; staff will take you up.

Our guide to Naples with kids puts this and the other undergrounds in context.

The association stresses that its route is the only one starting from Piazza San Gaetano and that other underground tours in the city are run by other operators. That is simply true: Naples has several separate underground sites. The main alternative is the Galleria Borbonica under Monte Echia, near Piazza del Plebiscito.

Our full comparison, Napoli Sotterranea or Galleria Borbonica, goes further, and Naples from below tells the 2,400-year story.

Piazza San Gaetano is in the middle of the Centro Storico, about 740 m (0.45 miles) from Dante station on metro Line 1 and 370 m from the Cappella Sansevero. Via San Gregorio Armeno starts at the corner of the square. The first tours of the morning are the obvious time to avoid a long queue, though the operator publishes no data on which slots are quietest.

Afterward, Via dei Tribunali is the city's pizza street; Di Matteo and Sorbillo are a few doors away. Our Spaccanapoli and decumani walk passes the entrance.

Naples: Naples Underground Entry Ticket and Guided Tour

€18, the same as the full price on napolisotterranea.org. Guided only; 121 steps and not wheelchair accessible. Meets at Piazza San Gaetano 62, while the association's site gives its entrance as number 69; neither page says the two sellers are the same.

1.5 to 2 hours

4.4★★★★★★★★★★(25,854 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on GetYourGuide

Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.