Under the streets and houses of Todi, there is another city, a hidden one, concealed by darkness and cut into the underground world. This Todi Underground is composed of various caverns of various shapes and sizes, made by man over the course of centuries and are now partially open for exploration.
The underground city
With over 3 kilometres of tunnels, dozens of pre-Roman, Roman and medieval cisterns, hundreds of wells from various eras and an unquantifiable number of cellars and other underground dwellings, the city boasts a rich underground heritage.
Ongoing amazement
Over the course of history, Todi’s wealth of underground heritage has never ceased to amaze everyone who accidentally comes across it or those who carefully uncover its secrets. The allure of the unknown is also evident in the Historia Tudertine Civitatis, of the 13th century, which suggests that Hercules built the city on seven pillars.
A world underneath Todi: the history
This intricate system of underground structures that cross the hill, composed of layers of sand and gravel, was created to divert surface water downstream. The main function of these underground tunnels, in fact, was to control the flow of water and avoid landslides, reaching the critical points where water pools in the ground and diverting it away from potential damage.
Tunnels as water supply systems
Because of Todi’s position on an isolated hill, surrounded by kilometres of lower valleys, the city could not avail of an external aqueduct. For this reason, the tunnels also became an important water supply system, with public fountains that drew from the underground tunnels to quench the thirst of the city, wells that drew from the groundwater, and many cisterns to store rainwater.
Forgotten and re-discovered
After the construction of the modern aqueduct in 1925, and as every household got running water over the following decades, the ancient underground tunnels, duly maintained and cleaned by the water company workers for centuries, gradually became obsolete and forgotten. The inertia of the underground world, however, basically protected these spaces from the changes that were happening above ground, and thus an underground Todi emerged with precious remains of past eras, repositories of stories that await to be deciphered and retold.
How to visit Todi Underground
Many of these tunnels and underground spaces are open to visitors, including the Roman cisterns in Piazza del Popolo, the tunnels of Fabbrica della Piana and the Neviera della Valle (the Ice House of the Valley).
The visit is headed by Toward Sky cultural association, which has been consistently committed to offering visits to the tunnels of the Fabbrica della Piana for more than 20 years. This area is about 600 metres long below the city of Todi.
Visits to the underground areas can booked as potholing excursions: small groups of 10 people at most are given helmets and flash light. Participants are accompanied by an expert guide. For more information, visit the website for the city of Todi.
Follow us on the socials