Naples tunnel tours
This item appears on page 64 of the February 2017 issue.
Visitors to Naples, Italy, can tour a series of forgotten 19th-century tunnels, now known as the Galleria Borbonica (two entrances: Vico del Grottone 4 or Via Morelli 40 [inside Morelli car parking], 80132 Napoli, Italy; phone +39 366 248 4151, www.
galleriaborbonica.com/en).
Originally carved under the streets of Naples in the 1850s by Ferdinand II of Bourbon to act as a passageway from his palace to a military barracks in case of revolution, the tunnels, full of left-behind artifacts, were sealed in the 1950s.
The “Standard Tour” (€10 [near $10.50]) needs no reservations and lasts 1¼ hours, departing roughly every two hours, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Fri.-Sun., from either entrance. This tour includes the entrance tunnels, filled with WWII-era cars and motorcycles, a bomb shelter and old water tanks.
The “Adventure Tour” (€15), requiring a reservation, lasts one hour 20 minutes and includes a boat ride in an underground aqueduct.
On the 2½-hour “Speleo Tour” (€30), also requiring a reservation, visitors are equipped with lighted helmets and taken to the deepest parts of the tunnels, with a zip-line ride across a 16th-century cistern.
Reserve tours online or by phone.