Underground
The rock around Rome is soft. For three thousand years that has meant one thing: if people wanted a space, they cut it.
30 things to book19 placesthe nearest is a 42 min drive from Rome
Volcanic tufo north of Rome and limestone to the south have given this region an unusual amount of underground: Etruscan tombs cut into cliffs, sunken roads dug so deep the sky is a slot overhead, wine cellars going down three storeys under hill towns, Roman water tunnels still running, and proper limestone show caves with rivers in them.
Most of these stay markedly cooler than the surface in August, which makes this the page to open in a heatwave. And most of them are unaffected by rain.
The underground here divides into two things that look similar and are not. There are limestone show caves — natural systems with rivers in them, lit paths and a guide — and there is everything people cut by hand, which is most of what is on this page. Tufo is soft enough to dig with iron tools and hard enough to stay up afterwards, and the towns built on it have been quietly extending downwards for three thousand years.
Under a town like Orvieto or Narni that means a second town: wells, quarries, dovecotes, snow pits, cellars, an aqueduct, and in Narni a cell the Inquisition used, lost and found again in living memory. These are visits with a guide and a fixed departure rather than a door you push, which is why booking matters more here than on most pages.
What to take: a jacket, whatever the surface temperature is doing, and shoes with a grip. The floors are wet in the natural caves and worn smooth in the man-made ones. Nothing on this page needs caving experience unless the card says it does — and where it does, it says so in the operator's own words.
Limestone systems with lit paths, a guide and a fixed route. Pastena and Falvaterra in the south, Stiffe over in Abruzzo with a river running through it, and the wells and quarries under Orvieto. These are the ones that work with children and the ones that are unaffected by anything the weather is doing.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
Under the groundTurn up, pay at the door, and climb down an Etruscan well and its caves.
€5 per person
Books on orvietobooking.com
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Under the groundWalk into the hill on wet steps, in a guided group of no more than twelve.
€10 per person
Books on grottepastenacollepardo.it
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Under the groundA trip that combines caving with canyoning progression techniques: you walk through underground chambers, cross fixed sections and rope traverses with a helmet, harness and head…
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Under the groundA short guided walk along an underground river inside the Falvaterra and Rio Obaco natural monument.
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Under the groundA guided walk through part of the man-made caves dug into the tufa rock under Orvieto, with cisterns, quarries and dovecotes cut into the cliff.
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Under the groundA self-guided route through nine linked caves under the medieval quarter of Orvieto, including an Etruscan well, a kiln for medieval pottery and pre-Roman finds left where they …
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Under the groundA guided walk through a through-cave that water still runs into, inside the Monti Ausoni regional park.
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Under the groundA guided walk into an active resurgence cave where a river runs, with waterfalls and pools along the route.
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Under the groundTwo Etruscan rock-cut necropolises, Pianezze and Centocamere, reopened to the public on 1 May, plus the Civita museum in the village, which reconstructs the interior of a chambe…
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Under the groundTo the left of the sanctuary church a stairway drops into the Grotta del Turco, the third and largest fissure of the split mountain: a pointed arch of rock open to the sea, wher…
See the dayThe Etruscan sunken roads, the tunnels under the tufo towns, the cellars, the catacombs, the aqueducts. Not natural: somebody carved every metre of these, usually for water, wine or cold storage, and usually a very long time ago. Orvieto and Narni are the two towns where the underground is a visit in its own right.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
Under the groundA guided visit to the rooms under the former convent of San Domenico: a frescoed church, a Roman cistern and the cell used by the Holy Office, whose graffiti are still being res…
A sports club — you join them for the day
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Under the groundBeneath a house on Via della Pace in Orvieto lie more than 400 square metres of caves and tunnels on several levels, cut into the tufo across three thousand years: Etruscan grai…
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Under the groundAn underground early-Christian cemetery cut into the tuff beneath the basilica, with roughly 1,600 burials used between the third and fifth centuries.
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Under the groundA six-hour guided day around the underground hydraulic works of the Lake Nemi basin — horizontal wells and tunnels, some still carrying water.
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Under the groundA guided visit to the cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata at Anagni and its museum: the chapter library, the old treasury, the Caetani chapel, the oratory of Saint Thomas Becket…
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Under the groundThe tourist office of Orte runs guided descents into the tunnels under the old town: the Etruscan-Roman aqueduct, the medieval dovecote and the snow well, and on the third weeke…
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Under the groundA guided visit to natural caves inside the Monti Simbruini park, wearing a helmet and head torch, through tunnels and narrow passages.
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Under the groundInside the Lacus, a vaulted thirteenth-century room under Piazza Garibaldi, an indoor adventure course with rope bridges, a zip line and an artificial climbing wall, built with …
A sports club — you join them for the day
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Under the groundA combined visit: the Ruspoli castle and its gardens, then the tunnels dug under Vignanello known as 'I Connutti'.
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Under the groundA caving trip on foot through the active branch of the Falvaterra system, walking in water at about 14-15 degrees.
See the dayTarquinia's painted chambers are the reason people come; Cerveteri's tumuli are a whole street of them, with steps going down into the dark. Both are UNESCO sites and both are an hour from Rome. There is also a quieter version — necropoleis reached on foot through a valley, or on a quad through the farmland they sit in.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
With your handsA working winery at Bardano, on the hills facing Orvieto, in a farmstead that belonged to the Templars.
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On horsebackA western-riding centre inside the 15,000-hectare park of Veio, on the Cassia just north of Rome at Isola Farnese, that makes trail riding its main business rather than a sideline.
A sports club — you join them for the day
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On the trailGuided walk through the tumulus tombs of the Banditaccia, carved to reproduce the inside of Etruscan houses, and along the Via degli Inferi, the sunken road that led to the buri…
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On the trailGuided visit to the tumulus tombs of the Banditaccia and to the Tomb of the Reliefs, carved in the fourth century BC with stucco copies of household objects, plus the museum hol…
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Off roadFive hours in total: three on a quad or dune buggy across the Cerveteri countryside to the Banditaccia Etruscan necropolis, then two hours visiting the tombs of the UNESCO site.
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Off roadA guided hour on a quad or a dune buggy through the countryside of Cerveteri, along farm roads between olive groves and vineyards as far as the hilltop hamlet of Ceri, then back…
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With your handsGuided visit and narrated route through a reconstructed Etruscan village, followed by workshops: a simulated dig, clay working, fresco painting and grain grinding, and a tasting…
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On the trailGuided visit to the amphitheatre carved whole out of the tufa rock, to the Mithraeum later turned into a church, and to the Etruscan and Roman rock tombs along the Via Francigena.
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On the trailSix-hour guided walk in the Treja gorge to the archaeological remains of ancient Narce, entering a chamber tomb with its sarcophagi, with views over Monte Soratte, and ending in…
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On the trailA half-day guided visit to the Monterozzi necropolis, a UNESCO site, and to the National Archaeological Museum in the old town.
See the dayDriving time from the middle of Rome, on the road network and without traffic. It tells you whether the day stands up; it is not a timetable.
Getting there
The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Localrent, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on LocalrentNo parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on Welcome PickupsThe show caves are walkways and steps, and the effort level for each activity is on its page. The caving and canyoning days are a different thing entirely, and they say so.
Yes, and by some distance. Underground the temperature barely moves between February and August, so a cave in a heatwave is the coolest thing within an hour of the city. Take something with sleeves.
Pastena and Falvaterra in the hills south of the city, the caves and Etruscan wells under Orvieto to the north, the Turk's Cave at Gaeta on the coast, and Stiffe over the border in Abruzzo, which has an underground river you walk beside. All are guided, and all are in the first grid above.
For most, yes, because they run on fixed departures with a guide and a group size. A few of the Orvieto sites take you as you arrive. Each card says which, and carries the operator's number where the booking is made by phone.
The show caves usually are — they are lit, walked and dramatic, which is a good combination at almost any age. The underground towns are more talking and more stairs. Where the operator sets a minimum age, it is on the card.
Underground. The show caves are the obvious answer, but the sunken roads of the Tuscia are the cheap one: they are cut metres down into the rock and shaded from end to end, and they cost nothing. This is the one page on the site that is better in a heatwave than in perfect weather.
Some of the smaller town circuits are close to it, and the sunken roads of the Tuscia cost nothing at all — they are public paths cut down through the rock, walkable end to end, and shaded the whole way. Where a card says free, it is because the operator publishes that it is.
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