Welcome to the Naples underground! We are now at a depth of approximately 30 meters below street level and the temperature ranges somewhere between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius with a humidity level of approximately 70-80%. These caverns were created by Greek colonists who in the 4th century BC began to extract the stone material required to build the city that is located above us: Neapolis, or “new city.” These caverns that were initially created as quarries were later used as aqueducts by the Greeks, who connected the cisterns through a network of tunnels that brought the water from a spring on the slopes of Mount Terminio (the Serino aqueduct). For approximately two thousand years, the aqueduct was used continuously, until the end of the 19th century when it was closed due to a cholera epidemic, only to be reopened again in 1942 to be used as an air-raid shelter.
