This week's dream: Exploring Rome's underground
Beneath Rome's iconic landmarks lies a hidden world

Much of ancient Rome, of course, "remains hidden under visitors' feet," said Tony Perrottet in Smithsonian. Visit the Pantheon or the Colosseum and you'll notice that the buildings' foundations sit far below current street levels. Plenty of what surrounded them lies under 30 feet of accumulated debris and new construction. That's what makes the underground "Roman archaeology's final frontier," inspiring two groups of amateur spelunkers to begin leading subterranean tours, opening up "a fascinating, multidimensional honeycomb of pagan shrines, public baths, hidden lakes, grand sewers, and Christian catacombs." Recently, I succumbed to "an obsession with the city's last hidden corners," starting on the day I visited an ancient underground aqueduct just outside the city.
Most of the 11 "superbly crafted" aqueducts that fed fresh water to Rome ran below grade, and I'd met that morning with several members of Sotterranei di Roma, or Undergrounds of Rome, to explore one. Donning hard hats and headlamps, we found an ancient maintenance hole in an overgrown field and descended by ladder into pitch darkness. A bat swooped past my head, and the walls were crawling with spiderlike crickets. "To some, this might be the stuff of nightmares." But I instantly wanted to see more. Surprisingly, "there are many other underground sites that are entirely accessible to travelers, if they know about them." I met up with a professor, Giuseppina Mattietti, who guides students via little-known museums or churches, such as the Crypta Balbi and the Basilica of San Clemente, to hidden worlds below the center city. Other sites "require some planning to visit," but Rome's Special Superintendence of Archaeology does grant requests.
The Sotterranei di Roma is headquartered in the Labyrinth of Rome, a 22-mile network of former quarry tunnels. One night, members guided me "deep into the dank maze" until we found a 20-foot ladder that rose to a hole in the stone ceiling cut by medieval tomb raiders to plunder Christian catacombs. We clambered up, and soon my headlamp illuminated shards of pottery, mosaics, and human remains, including a skull. I've visited impressive church catacombs, but "somehow, squatting in the darkness with my hands and knees covered in grime caught my imagination more." Tours of underground sites with Sotterranei di Roma (sotterraneidiroma.it) start at $17.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Christian extremism: Taking 'holy war' literally
Feature A self-proclaimed minister shot two lawmakers and kept a 'kill list' targeting Democratic officials and abortion providers
-
Iran: Is regime change possible?
Feature The U.S.-Israeli attack exposed cracks in Iran's regime
-
What to know about private equity in your 401(k)
the explainer BlackRock is making private investments available in employer-sponsored retirement plans
-
Jeff in Venice: a 'triumph of tackiness'?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
Shami Chakrabarti picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The politician and human rights activist shares the polemics that inspired her
-
The Anatomy of Painting: Jenny Saville's 'stunning' retrospective
The Week Recommends Saville's new collection features 'masterpieces' from throughout her career
-
M3GAN 2.0: riotous action sequel to the comedy-horror hit about a killer doll
The Week Recommends A 'ridiculously' entertaining 'hyper-camp mash-up' of Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible
-
Properties of the week: bright and cheerful houses
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, London and Norfolk
-
6 sleek homes for modernists
Feature Featuring a concrete-and-steel home in South Carolina and a renovated 19th-century former carriage house in Pennsylvania
-
The Genius Myth: a 'fresh and unpretentious' book from Helen Lewis
The Week Recommends This 'angry, witty book' by Helen Lewis is a valuable critique of the 'flattering fiction' of genius
-
From Hilde, With Love – the 'moving' story of an accidental revolutionary
The Week Recommends Liv Lisa Fries gives a 'compelling' performance as the soft-spoken heroine.