Reading Rome from the Ground Down.
Underground Rome is a specialist archaeological project dedicated to documenting, interpreting and experiencing the physical development of Rome across different levels of the city.
Rome did not simply expand. It repeatedly changed level.
Streets were resurfaced. Buildings were dismantled, reused or incorporated into later construction. Valleys accumulated deposits. New architecture altered the relationship between structures and surrounding ground.
As a result, archaeology survives across Rome at very different elevations. A room that appears subterranean today may once have stood at ground level, while another space may have been designed below ground from the beginning.
Underground Rome was created to examine that physical complexity as a subject in its own right.
One specialist subject. Three ways to explore it.
Underground Rome combines documentation and interpretation with private archaeological journeys. Each part supports the others without turning the project into a generic guide to everything in Rome.
Places
An expanding archaeological atlas documenting individual sites, their physical context, chronology and relationship with the surrounding city.
Field Notes
Longer-form research examining processes that connect individual places: ground levels, water, construction, urban change and archaeological investigation.
Private Journeys
Specialist private experiences developed around archaeological interests, available time and the access genuinely possible on a particular date.
Rome · Archaeological Context
A narrower subject. A deeper record.
Underground Rome is deliberately specialised. We are not attempting to catalogue every monument, museum or attraction in the city.
The focus is on archaeological places and physical structures that help explain Rome vertically: original subterranean architecture, former ground levels, spaces enclosed by later construction and archaeological contexts incorporated into the contemporary city.
Place by place, the city becomes legible.
The Places atlas is designed to grow. Large monuments sit alongside small archaeological areas, religious complexes, ancient residences, funerary sites, infrastructure and spaces incorporated into modern Rome.
Not every documented place is a tourist attraction, and not every place is continuously accessible. Inclusion in the atlas means that the site contributes to understanding the archaeological city.
The Wider Rome
A specialist project by Rome Private Experience.
Underground Rome was created by Rome Private Experience as a dedicated specialist project for Rome's subterranean archaeology and archaeological stratigraphy. The project is led by Daniele Avanzato, founder of Rome Private Experience.
It has its own subject, research structure and editorial identity, while drawing on the operational experience required to design and organise private cultural services in Rome.
Private journeys focused on subterranean archaeology are developed here on Underground Rome. Broader bespoke programmes, corporate experiences and projects extending beyond this specialist field are handled through Rome Private Experience.
Specialist archaeology. Broader private Rome.
Subterranean Archaeology
A specialist atlas, research project and private-experience platform focused on archaeological levels, subsurface structures and the physical development of Rome.
Bespoke Rome
The broader private-experience brand for bespoke cultural programmes, unusual access, complex itineraries, corporate groups and professional clients in Rome.
Document the Place
Read the Sequence
Understand the Context
Depth is physical. Context makes it meaningful.
A site is not important simply because it is several metres below today's pavement. Its significance comes from what survives, when it was constructed, how it was used and what happened to the surrounding city afterwards.
That distinction guides both the atlas and our private experiences. We separate archaeological evidence from later tradition, distinguish original subterranean structures from architecture that became enclosed over time, and treat current access as something to verify rather than assume.
Opening conditions, restoration work and special access can change. Private itineraries are proposed according to availability confirmed for the requested date.
Choose a period, a place or a question.
Tell us when you will be in Rome, who you are travelling with and what aspect of the archaeological city interests you. We can use that starting point to develop a private journey around the access genuinely possible during your stay.
Design Your Journey →