Napoli Sotteraneo

I this evening, decided to take an underground tour of the city - Napoli Sotteraneo  or Naples Subterranean.  Naples was originally named "Neapolis" or "New City"

I ran into the Kiwi couple that was staying at my hostel, so we decided to do the tour together which would take us 40 meters below the surface of the city.

The city is built layer over layer of volcanic as and rock called "tufo."   Being porous and easily manipulated, it was used by the Greeks to build the city, and later the quarries were used for an extensive system of underground aqueducts.

These subterranean aqueducts were built by the Greeks from about 470 AD. These basement cisterns were meant to pick up rain water. The water was then distributed through a series of cisterns connected with a type of channel called a "cunicoli."

Over the centuries the caves were used for various purposes: Early Christians used them to worship and bury their dead, Neapolitans used the caves for dumping grounds.  Only the cholera epidemic of the mid-1880s shut down this underground city, but in WWII it was in use again, as shelter from heavy bombing that decimated the city. 

Bomb from WWII

Looking waaaayyyy up the well!

Candles to light our way through the amazingly narrow, dark passageways.

Underground aqueduct.

Ancient underground Roman theater.

Entering the underground theater where the old dressing rooms remain.

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More architecture and random shots while strolling the streets of Naples.

This was my favorite picture that I took on the streets of Naples.  A man doing a chalk drawing on the sidewalk.

Town center palace.

The square was practically deserted.

Guard post.

I liked the modern soldier standing next to the knight.  Or is he a king?

Historical district.

Practically all of the shops were closed with all of the locals being on vacation, leaving the tourists to fend for themselves.