LAES - NAPOLI SOTTERRANEA

This association was the first to open the basement of Naples to visitors. Since 1988, it has been working to restore and disseminate this underground heritage, whose history is intimately linked to that of the city on the surface. Since the Greek period, the tuff of the subsoil was exploited as a quarry to build the city, and was dug for cisterns and aqueducts. The water supply of Naples through this gigantic network of galleries and wells was not completed until 1885, following a cholera epidemic. After several decades of abandonment, this network was used as a bomb shelter during the Second World War, becoming a real underground city with all the amenities, even electricity, saving the lives of thousands of Neapolitans. There are still moving testimonies of this period, such as graffiti caricatured as Mussolini and Hitler, or representing the hopes and concerns of their authors. After the end of the fighting, the galleries were clogged by the rubble left by the bombardments. The LAES Association continues a patient work of clearing and revalorization of the galleries. The visit, which is concentrated under the via Chiaia and the Spanish quarters, is exciting, occasionally animated by young dynamic Neapolitans. In addition to the history of these underground passages, they will tell you about the picturesque legends linked to them. Even if you don't understand Italian, this visit won't leave you indifferent.