Roberta was great!
Lea Cline
On this tour of the Orte Underground, we'll visit the galleries under the village, where we'll see an Etruscan-Roman aqueduct, as well as cisterns, wells and cellars.
Please remember that these activities are non-refundable.
Via Matteotti, 45
Where does the activity end?
Old Orte Hosptial
Lea Cline
Bloomington, Il, United StatesRoberta was great!
You can book up to 3 hours in advance if there are any seats left. Book now and guarantee your spot.
If you have other questions, contact us
On this tour of the Orte Underground, we'll visit the galleries under the village, where we'll see an Etruscan-Roman aqueduct, as well as cisterns, wells and cellars.
We'll meet at the indicated time at number 45 of Via Matteotti and, from there, we'll head to the Orte Underground. What secrets lie below the surface of this beautiful town in Lazio? We'll find out!
We'll begin this tour of the underground galleries of Orte by admiring the Ipogea Fountain, which is located just below the central Piazza della Libertà. This place was conceived as a cistern in the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus, although it was later monumentalized during the Renaissance period.
Next, we'll continue our route visiting the galleries of an Etruscan-Roman aqueduct. The main tunnel of this conduit, built around the 6th-5th centuries BC, had the purpose of transporting the rainwater to the heart of the city, using the natural slope of the tuff cliff. It's an ancestral engineering masterpiece!
During the tour, we'll also see a complex of cisterns, wells and cellars that date back to Roman, Medieval and modern times. After learning about its history, we'll return to the surface and take a walk around the old town of Orte towards the pigeon lofts. These are two underground rooms built between the 12th and 13th centuries for the breeding of pigeons, which were very important for communication in the Middle Ages.
Finally, we'll conclude our tour of the Orte Underground. After an approximately 1.5-hour route, we'll finish the tour in the old Orte Hospital. There, we'll visit its snow well, which was used to collect the ice that was used to preserve medication.
During the booking process, you can opt for the option without the tour of the galleries of the Etruscan-Roman aqueduct. In this case, we'll discover two of the most unique spaces in Orte's medieval heritage: the pigeon lofts and the el old snow well in the Orte Hospital.
We'll explore these underground rooms used for the breeding of pigeons. Did you know this activity was crucial for supplementing the urban diet during the Middle Ages? Their design, both functional and unusual, will give you a better understanding of how daily life was organized.
We'll also visit the ingenious historic icehouse that was used for centuries to preserve ice and ensure the safe storage of food and medicine. It's a fascinating example of how medieval communities made use of natural resources without modern technology.
This tour will last 1 hour.
This activity is not recommended for claustrophobic people.