Digging and living below Naples: buried history of Bourbon Tunnel

October 18, 2016 9:33 AM

An aqueduct, an escape route, an air raid shelter, and an impound lot. Naples Bourbon Tunnel descends 30 meters into the bowels of Monte Echia and travels through 500 years of Neapolitan history. But since the 1970s, these tunnels were forgotten, until local geologists Gianluca Minin and Enzo De Luzio were told about them by a man who had sheltered in them during World War II.

For a longer history, you can look at the geology of the Bay of Naples, and learn that Naples is built on layers of compacted volcanic ash and rock that Italians call tufo, tuff or tufa in English, a relatively soft rock. Go below the modern Naples, you can discover the deep and ancient silence of a lost world: of catacombs and caves, Roman roads and markets, World War II air-raid shelters, and early Christian burial sites of faded frescoes and mosaics. For a breathless video documentary, here's "Beneath Vesuvius," an episode of Cities of the Underworld, which includes a look at The Fontanelle cemetery, a charnel house or ossuary located in a cave in the tuff hillside in the Materdei section of the city, and other burial traditions found below Naples.

Specifically looking at the Bourbon Tunnel, its history goes back to the Carmignano Aqueduct system, a relatively modern aqueduct that was finished in 1629 (compared to other aqueducts in Naples). The system was re-utilized by Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies, also known as King Ferdinand II of Bourbon (from the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies) when he feared the possibility of a rebellion, and he wanted a military passage for troops connecting the Royal Palace of Naples to Via Morelli. The Bourbon Tunnel, also known as the Bourbon Gallery, utilized some "starter" caves that came from previously used quarries. The new tunnel was started in 1853, but stopped two years later, before it could be completed. Some of the troubles came due to the large number of cisterns and aqueducts still in use, obstacles that you could not simply dig through without interrupting (or even destroying) the water supply of tens of thousands of inhabitants in the area.

In 1939 the city was in desperate need of air-raid shelters; a second entrance to the tunnel was opened in modern day Via Morelli; toilets and sinks, ancient electrical wiring, folding beds, a gas mask and heartfelt graffiti remain as witnesses to many long hours endured by Neapolitans in these damp surroundings. Here too are sections of fascist statuary that once stood in a piazza above ground (at the end of my street).

After World War II, the tunnel was used as a "Municipal Deposit," where impounded vehicles, rubble and refuse were stored, then forgotten again until Clemente Esposito went below the city to map the tunnels (Google auto-translation, original Italian article). And again it was forgotten, until a World War II survivor told another generation of geologists about his experience in the air raid shelters below the city.

You can now tour the Galleria Borbonica, an experience reported by the BBC.

posted by filthy light thief (6 comments total)

"until local geologists Gianluca Minin and Enzo De Luzio were told about them by a man who had sheltered in them during World War II." Link is a subscriber only article.
posted by uraniumwilly at 10:03 AM on October 18, 2016

The sixth link (theaustralian.com) is subscriber-only. This Smithsonian piece would be a good substitute.
posted by beagle at 10:05 AM on October 18, 2016

Sorry, I found it via Google, and when searching for it again and hitting the first link, the page works from that circuitous routing, but swapping links with the Smithsonian piece from beagle would be good, thanks for the suggestion.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:18 AM on October 18, 2016

Mod note: Swapped "until geologists" link for the Smithsonian one.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:20 AM on October 18, 2016

Thanks! (Direct link to the paywalled article from The Australian, for future reference)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:29 AM on October 18, 2016

Google-spoofed link to the Australian which will get you past the paywall. (I think.)
posted by beagle at 11:51 AM on October 18, 2016