Naples Underground

Thursday 9th March was the day to go underground.

The Sotterranea was originally an underground quarry, which must have been hard work for a large number of unlucky slaves.

The second purpose was as a water cistern for the city. An aqueduct and other drains filled the chambers, and water was drawn by lowering amphora through strategically placed openings.

Some debris would collect in the water so another group of unlucky workers/slaves would be lowered down 40 metres in the dark to clean the surface, much as one would clean leaves from a swimming pool today.

Access between some of the chambers was by tight tunnels which required ducking down at times, and sidling sideways through lengthy sections.

We also had to turn on our mobile phone torches because only small sections had lights, the rest was in the dark.

 Our guide advised that if anyone was claustrophobic then they could remain sitting on a low wall until we returned from that part of the tour. Her sympathy was diluted somewhat by referring to the wall as the 'Wall of Shame'...

A cholera outbreak saw the end of that phase and the site remained idle until the 2nd World War when it was drained and repurposed as a bomb shelter. Extra ventilation shafts were required so they placed them in the grounds of churches. According to our guide, the belief was that the Germans would not bomb churches and that this protection would extend to the venilation shafts as well.

The most interesting part of the Sotterranea in my view was not one of the historic aspects, it was a new science experiment regarding the steady humidity. Someone had set up a planter box, filled it with soil, set up some artificial lights, and thrown in some seeds. The resuts were:

Note that there is no watering at any stage, nor does it rain in the Sotterranea. All the moisture the seeds and then the plants have required has come from the humidity. Remarkable.

The oddest part of the Sotterranea in my view was this:

This was an art installation to protest beach pollution and it's effect on sea turtles. All the items had been collected as rubbish on beaches where turtles like to lay eggs. The freshly hatched babies then had to run the gauntlet of this rubbish to reach the sea.

All good stuff. However I failed to see how it would change  a potential polluter's behaviour when the exhibit would only be seen by tourists who I imagine are highly unlike to dump old dolls while on holiday. Put another way, it's a worthy cause so why hide it underground?...

We rounded out our visit to the Sotteranea with a visit to an old Roman theatre. 

The theatre was allegedly rediscovered when someone needed some wall repairs in their apartment. The repairer commented on the Roman brickwork behind the modern facade, and the occupier said "Oh those? My basement is like that". Another part of the ancient theatre was being used as a motor scooter repair garage....

The brickwork was very clever. Sections of the flat bricks were inlaid diagonally with other square section bricks. It is believed the Romans observed cracks ran diagonally every now and again so allowed for them with that design. It was not meant to be seen as it was covered in marble.

Compare that section of ancient wall with more modern changes apparently made during the Renaissance:

The theatre also housed a collection of miniature scenes/dioramas. I didn't clearly hear our guide explain the age of these scenes, but they were many hundreds of years old, and each had symbolic meaning.

On a whim we decided that we had seen enough of Naples. Not that it wasn't fantastic nor that there wasn't more to see in the city specifically and Southern Italy generally. It was more that we would not be in Italy again for a long time and we hadn't planned anything north of Rome. So next stop Venice and Florence. Bring on the gondolas!