Highlights:

• Air raid Shelter from World War II
• Judicial Depot for Vintage Cars and Motorcycles
• Aqueduct Cisterns

The Bourbon Tunnel is one of the most fascinating and evocative routes in the Naples Underground circuit. A masterpiece of civil engineering, the tunnel stretches beneath the Pizzofalcone hill near the Royal Palace. Its construction was initiated in 1853 by King Ferdinand II of Bourbon. Although officially classified as a public works project, the tunnel’s true purpose was military. The king intended it as a rapid escape route to the sea for the royal family in case of uprisings, as well as a connection to the palace for soldiers stationed in the Chiaia barracks.

The construction, carried out with pickaxes, hammers, and wedges, took three years. The Bourbon Tunnel was inaugurated on May 25, 1855, with King Ferdinand II himself passing through it, but it remained open to the public for only three days. The tunnel, featuring grand spaces of immense architectural value, was never completed and ended, after 431 meters, in the courtyard behind the colonnade of Piazza Plebiscito.

During the excavation, ancient tuff quarries, impressive cisterns connected to the underground water network, and pathways from Greek and Roman times were uncovered. During World War II, the gallery served as an air-raid shelter for thousands of Neapolitans. Later, until the 1970s, it became a Municipal Judicial Deposit, storing items recovered from rubble after bombings, as well as materials retrieved from collapses, evictions, and confiscations.

Since 2005, the structure has regained the attention of geologists. Among the various restoration efforts, the most notable includes the recovery and display of vintage cars and motorcycles found under heaps of debris, along with statues from different eras.