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TheCrypta Neapolitana[1] (Latin for "Neapolitan crypt") is anancient Roman road tunnel nearNaples,Italy. It was built in 37 BC and is over 700 metres long.
The tunnel connected Naples with the so-calledPhlegrean Fields and the town ofPozzuoli along the road known as thevia Domiziana.
The eastern entrance (on the Naples side) lies in the Vergiliano park ofPiedigrotta ("at the foot of the grotta"); the western end is in the area now calledFuorigrotta ("outside the grotta").
The site is also noteworthy for the presence of the so-calledVirgil's tomb, as well as the tomb of the Italian poetGiacomo Leopardi.
Naples and Pozzuoli were separated by a great impenetrable marsh: the first road between the two cities was probably built by the Greeks and was narrow and indirect.
The first Roman road connecting Neapolis and the Phlegrean fields, thevia (Antiniana) per colles, was built at the beginning of the 1st century BC and followed the easiest route but it was nevertheless still long, difficult, tortuous and traversed steep hills. It climbed the hills ofVomero and came back down towards Fuorigrotta arriving at the modern Via Terracina from where it continued to the ports ofPuteoli andCumae. As Puteoli and associated trade between the two cities grew, the old road needed to be improved, so the tunnel shortened the route and avoided several hills.
The tunnel was first built by the architect LuciusCocceius Auctus forAgrippa during the civil war betweenOctavian andSextus Pompeius inc. 37 BC.[2] The new road, calledvia per cryptam, turned north at the west end of the tunnel, heading towards Via Leopardi and reconnecting with the old road, the via Neapolis-Puteoli, at the top of Via Terracina where a way-station (tabernae) and adjoining thermal spa complex has been excavated.[3]
The tunnel is one of four road tunnels built in the area by Cocceius: others are the Grotta di Seiano (tunnel of Sejanus) inPosillipo, theGrotta di Cocceio fromLake Avernus toCumae, and the Crypta Romana from Cumae to its port, as part of a network of military infrastructures including construction of thePortus Julius.
TheAqua Augusta (Serino) aqueduct was built later in parallel to the road tunnel.
The tunnel was still in use as a roadway until superseded by two modern tunnels in the early 20th century, and shows extensive restoration done by the architects of the Bourbon dynasty of Naples. During the Second World War it was used as a bomb shelter for the inhabitants of Bagnoli; the war and some landslides during the fifties put it back into a state of neglect. Today it has been restored as an archaeological site.
According to mediaeval legend, the tunnel was built by the poetVirgil in a single night.[4]
40°49′47″N14°13′03″E / 40.829595°N 14.217550°E /40.829595; 14.217550
