Orvieto Underground: The City That Lies Beneath Orvieto, Italy
Umbria Lovers/Flickr Creative CommonsOrvieto, Italy sits on the summit of a flattened volcanic bluff, which was dug into to create an underground city.
In ancient times, historians believe, the Etruscans established a city reportedly known as Velzna on top of a volcanic bluff. The location afforded them ample defense, but it came with a host of problems too — namely, that their water source was far down below on the plains beneath the bluff.
To remedy this situation, the Etruscans dug deep wells into the bluff along with chambers and cisterns to collect rainwater, allowing them to resist Roman siege for nearly two years. Unfortunately, according to Atlas Obscura, in 264 B.C.E., the Romans prevailed, and the city ultimately fell.
The Romans saw the potential in what the Etruscans had begun, however, and they kept digging. Above ground, the city of Orvieto continued to rise skyward, but beneath the dirt, its inhabitants carved out tunnels to serve different purposes, including shelters, quarries, grottoes, and galleries.
Michael Kogan/Flickr Creative CommonsRoughly 1,200 structures were dug into the volcanic rock beneath Orvieto.
One carved-out room even housed a massive olive press, millstones, furnaces, structures for storage, and troughs for animals doing labor. Some tunnels connected to nobles’ houses to provide them easy access out of the city, should invading forces arrive unexpectedly.
In total, roughly 1,200 structures were dug out beneath the city of Orvieto — though it seems as if that number will not be growing any higher in the years to come, as the city has officially banned any further digging in the underground tunnels, barring archaeological activities.
