Orvieto Underground

Who they are

Orvieto Underground is the guided visit to Orvieto's underground city organised by the company Speleotecnica from its ticket office on Piazza del Duomo, number 23. It tours part of the caves that the inhabitants dug over about 2,500 years into the tuff on which the city stands.

The story begins in the late seventies. A great landslide in Orvieto's rock caught the attention of a small group of local cavers, intrigued by the legends of a hollow city beneath the streets. They climbed the cliff to enter through the openings in the rock and found a network of rooms, tunnels and wells; archaeologists joined later. According to the company itself, more than 1,200 caves are now catalogued, classified by type and period. The website does not give Speleotecnica's year of foundation.

What you see

The visit passes through two of the largest caves in the rock. Among what the company describes are the dovecotes dug into the walls, niches where pigeons were raised, which remain a typical Orvieto dish; the narrow, deep Etruscan wells, with notches for climbing down, and the rainwater cisterns with large blocks of tuff from the fifth century BC. There are also quarries, cellars and pits with fragments of medieval and Renaissance pottery. The route is easy, although being underground it has stairs and narrow passages; the website does not mention wheelchair accessibility, so anyone who needs it should ask beforehand.

How it works

There are visits every day of the year, except 25 December, at 11:00, 12:15, 16:00 and 17:15, and they last one hour. They are held in Italian; in high season, also in German, and in French, Spanish and Russian if booked in advance. Entry costs €10 and €8 reduced for students, seniors and groups of more than 25. It is also included in the Carta Unica of Orvieto. The website does not publish a price for children or a maximum group size, apart from that rate for large groups; organised groups can book any day and at any time.

Bookings and contact

They recommend booking at least the day before in summer and at weekends. The ticket office answers on 0763 340688, on 339 7332764 and at [email protected]; administration, at [email protected]. For the visit in Spanish the practical thing is to write a few days ahead stating the date and number of people. The website does not publish cancellation conditions. As well as the visits, the company organises weddings in one of the caves, case by case.