The Bourbon Tunnel, Tunnel Borbonico or Bourbon Gallery (Italian: ) is an ancient underground passage, constructed for military purposes to connect the Royal Palace to military barracks in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The monarchy in the era of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon was fearful of the revolution-prone populace of Naples. Errico Alvino was commissioned to construct a military passage for troops connecting the

Royal Palace of Naples The Royal Palace of Naples () is a historic building located in Piazza del Plebiscito, in the historic center of Naples, Italy. Although the main entrance is located in this square, there are other accesses to the complex, which also includes th ...

to Via Morelli, boring underneath the hill of Pizzofalcone and reaching the quartiere San Ferdinando, but also connecting to other tunnels and aqueducts, including the old Carmignano aqueduct (1627–1629). The monarchy would also not have been ignorant that the Viceroy of Naples in 1647 had nearly been trapped in this urban Royal Palace, and only by luck was able to flee to a nearby convent to escape angry crowds during the Revolt of Masaniello, thus the tunnel could also serve as an escape route for its royal inhabitants. Alvino envisioned a two-lane tunnel with two sidewalks on either side. The two outlets were to the west on Via della Pace (today's Via Morelli, also opened in 1853 by Alvino himself), just in front of the Caserma della Vittoria barracks, and to the east by today's Piazza Carolina, behind the basilica of San Francesco di Paola. The tunnel was to be called Galleria Reale, and both lanes were to take their royal appellations: the one leading to Chiaia was to be named Strada Regia while the one in the opposite direction Strada Regina.Francesco Saverio Cerulli, ''Rivista delle opere comunali in corso nelle quindici province del Regno delle Due Sicilie al di qua del faro'', Stabilimento tipografico dell'Albergo dei Poveri, Napoli, 1856 Two years after it was begun, the fall of the

Bourbon dynasty The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...

meant that construction came to a halt. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the tunnel was used as a shelter during bombardments. Presently the tunnels are open for tours, and share with Catacombs of Naples the urge to go underground, and with much of Neapolitan constructions, a kinship with decay and fruitless architecture in Naples. The tunnel contains decades of debris, including vintage cars and a discarded fascist monument that had been made for Aurelio Padovani.

References

External links

Official website
Archaeological sites in Naples Subterranea (geography) Archaeological sites in Campania {{italy-hist-stub