Under the ground
The rock around Rome is soft. For three thousand years that has meant one thing: if people wanted a space, they cut it.
29 things to book17 placesthe nearest is a 47 min drive from Rome
Limestone show caves with rivers in them, Etruscan tombs cut into cliffs, sunken roads dug so deep the sky is a slot overhead, wine cellars going down three storeys, Roman water tunnels still running, and catacombs.
All of it stays in the low teens all year, which makes this the best page on the site for a heatwave — and none of it cares whether it is raining.
Out after breakfast, back with the evening still yours.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
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 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 guided visit to natural caves inside the Monti Simbruini park, wearing a helmet and head torch, through tunnels and narrow passages.
See the dayCommit to one of these rather than two.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
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 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 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.
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Under the groundThe longer caving route through the active Falvaterra system.
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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 viewing visit to a karst sinkhole about 60 metres deep and roughly 300 metres wide, formed when the roof of a cave collapsed.
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Under the groundA one-hour guided route covering about a kilometre of tunnels under Viterbo plus entry to the Templar Museum, with a tasting of local products.
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Under the groundA 25-minute walk through about 250 metres of tunnels cut into the tufa under Piazza della Morte, on two levels at three and eight metres below the square, lit by LEDs.
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Under the groundVisit to the network of tunnels and chambers dug under the medieval quarter of Viterbo.
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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 hour under the city, in a cave that holds a steady 14 °C.
Booked by phone
See the dayA full day, out and back, and worth the drive.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
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 groundThe crypt under the church of Santo Stefano holds bodies that dried out naturally instead of decaying, found during nineteenth-century exhumations, together with skulls and bones.
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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 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 islands, and the few places whose position we have not pinned down yet.
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 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 sixteenth-century well sunk into the tufa cliff, with two helical staircases built one above the other so that pack animals going down never crossed those coming up.
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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 groundGuided visit to the tunnels dug into Monte Soratte from 1937, later used as a German command post and then adapted as an atomic shelter.
A sports club — you join them for the day
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 PickupsLinks marked affiliate pay us a commission — you pay the operator's own price and we never take your money. How we rank