Naples Underground: tickets, hours and what you see 40 metres below the old town

What Naples Underground is, and why it is worth it

There is a second city under the historic centre of Naples. The Greeks who founded Neapolis quarried tuff to build the houses above, leaving huge cavities underground that served as cisterns for the city’s water supply for some twenty-three centuries. In the Second World War the same spaces became air-raid shelters: the association says about 40,000 people lived underground during the bombing.

The Piazza San Gaetano route is run by the Associazione Napoli Sotterranea, a private association that says it holds a concession from the State Property Agency and has been taking visitors underground for more than thirty years. It grew out of the curiosity of Enzo Albertini, still its president, who led weekly walks in the late 1970s and in 1987 uncovered a Greek quarry about 40 metres deep. It is worth your time because it reads Naples vertically: in ninety minutes you go from the Greeks to the war.

What you see on the guided tour

The visit has two parts: the underground itself, beneath the square, and the Greco-Roman theatre, a few minutes’ walk away inside the neighbourhood’s houses. At the entrance there is also the CO.R.E. Gallery, a free contemporary art space.

Greek quarries, cisterns and the aqueduct

The stairs bring you down to 4th-century BC tuff quarries that later became cisterns: tall walls, wide lit chambers and the channels of the Greco-Roman aqueduct, with medieval, Bourbon-era and modern tunnels added over time.

Air-raid shelters and the War Museum

The shelter rooms still hold furniture, graffiti and objects left by the people who spent their nights here. At the end of the tour, the War Museum displays documents and objects from June 1940 to September 1943.

The candle-lit passage

This is the part everyone remembers: about ten minutes along a narrow passage, candle in hand, to a Roman cistern still full of water. It is optional. Along the route you also pass the “Arianna” seismic station and the underground vegetable gardens, grown under lamps about 35 metres down.

The Roman theatre inside a home

Back at street level, the guide takes you into houses between Via Anticaglia and Vico Cinquesanti that were built over the tiers of Neapolis’s theatre. You step into a basso, a ground-floor home, the bed is moved aside and a trapdoor opens. In a former carpenter’s workshop you see a section of the seating with Roman brick and stone walls, cases of antique nativity figures and Bourbon-era drains lined with blue tiles.

Opening hours, tour length and languages

Tours leave every hour from 10:00 to 18:00 (last departure), with groups in English and Italian at the same times. On Thursdays there is also a 21:00 evening tour, by booking only and with at least 10 people. The official site lists no weekly closing day; check ahead for Christmas and New Year.

Allow about an hour underground and twenty minutes at the theatre, so around 90 minutes in all. Tours in other languages, private guides and large groups must be booked. Note that Tiqets shows different opening hours from the official ones; go by the association’s website.

Naples Underground tickets: official prices and discounts

• Adult: €18
• Age 11–17: €15
• Age 5–10: €10
• Age 0–4: free

The disability rules are specific: 100% certified invalidity is free, 75–99% pays €10, and under 75% pays the full price. Holders of an Italian Law 104 art. 3(3) certificate pay €10, or nothing if under 18. Carers always pay €18. Bring your certificate and ID.

The ticket covers both the underground and the Roman theatre. Naples Underground is privately run: it is not included in the Campania Artecard and does not join the free-entry Sundays of state museums.

Desk, skip-the-line or Tiqets: what you are actually buying

You have three options, and they are not the same thing.

1. At the desk in Piazza San Gaetano. €18 with guaranteed entry, but the queue can run from 10 to 90 minutes at busy times. The first tours of the morning usually have the shortest line.
2. The official skip-the-line ticket, on the association’s booking site. It fixes your time but costs more than a normal ticket, is non-refundable and cannot be changed. At times the online calendar shows sales as suspended.
3. Tiqets, “Naples Underground: skip-the-line + guided tour”, at €18 with an English- or Italian-speaking guide. The real advantage is flexibility: choose the refundable fare and you can cancel until 23:59 the day before (you cannot reschedule).

To be clear about who you are buying from: Tiqets names the provider as Naples Underground SRL, a company based on Via Santa Teresa degli Scalzi, not the Associazione Napoli Sotterranea. The product page gives no meeting point. The association says its only entrance is Piazza San Gaetano 68 and that underground tours starting elsewhere are not run by them. If you specifically want the route described on this page, check your voucher for the starting point before paying; if it is not stated, the desk in Piazza San Gaetano is the safe choice.

We are an independent guide: if you book through the Tiqets or GetYourGuide links on this page we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

Getting to Piazza San Gaetano

The entrance is at Piazza San Gaetano 68 on Via dei Tribunali, next to the church of San Paolo Maggiore: look for the white-and-blue “Napoli Sotterranea” flags. The association warns that typing its street address into Google Maps can send you to the wrong place, so navigate to the square instead.

• Metro: Line 1 to Dante, then walk through Port’Alba, Via San Pietro a Majella, Piazza Miraglia and Via dei Tribunali; allow roughly ten minutes.
• From the port: bus R4 from Via De Pretis to Piazza Dante.
• From the airport: Alibus to Piazza Garibaldi, then metro Line 1.
• By car: the old town is a limited-access zone (ZTL); there is paid parking on Via Duomo, Corso Umberto, Piazza Cavour and Via Costantinopoli.

For every transport option, see our guide to getting around Naples.

Rules, steps and practical tips

• Photos: allowed, and sharing them is encouraged.
• Food: not allowed; a small bottle of water is fine.
• Steps: more than 120 down and the same back up, low and with handrails. No lift, so no access for wheelchairs or walking frames.
• Pushchairs: left at the entrance.
• Clothing: flat shoes and, in summer, a sweatshirt, because it is cool underground.
• Safety: staff are on hand and you can stop the visit whenever you like.

When to go, and what to pair it with in the old town

The best time for Naples Underground is the 10:00 first tour or one of the last of the afternoon, especially at weekends and on days when several cruise ships are in port. The temperature underground stays steady, so it is a good plan for a rainy or very hot day too.

On the same square is San Lorenzo Maggiore, with its excavated Roman market: together the two visits give you a full picture of ancient Neapolis. A few minutes away are San Gregorio Armeno, the Sansevero Chapel and the Cathedral. To compare Naples Underground with the Bourbon Tunnel, the catacombs and the other routes, read our guide to underground Naples.