La Neapolis Sotterrata (Scavi di San Lorenzo)

Beneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore, excavations reveal part of ancient Neapolis: a Greek-period street, Roman market buildings, shops and a courtyard with a central tholos. The remains trace the development of a civic and commercial quarter from antiquity through its later burial beneath medieval construction.

Why it matters

The excavated complex preserves the ancient civic centre of Naples. Piazza San Gaetano lies above the area of the Roman forum, built over an earlier Greek agora. Flood deposits and successive rebuilding buried the quarter; the thirteenth-century basilica and convent later sealed much of the ancient street pattern.

What to notice

The Greek-period street, or stenopos, was repaved in the fifth century AD. Nearby, a Roman structure with three wings supported the forum terrace and included nine tabernae, or shops. Some rooms preserve traces of ovens and vats used for textile dyeing.

The macellum, a Roman market dated to the second half of the first century AD, had a porticoed plan and a courtyard paved with mosaic around a central tholos. A covered market nearby consisted of small rooms with masonry counters. The excavated area lies about ten metres below the church floor.

Context and history

The site served as public space for more than two millennia. From the fifth century BC, a Greek plaza occupied two levels along the route that became the decumanus maximus, now Via dei Tribunali. Retaining walls and stairways connected commercial and civic areas.

Roman Neapolis retained elements of its Greek plan. The forum quarter was rebuilt in the first century AD. After the fifth century, flooding and abandonment buried the ancient level, and medieval construction further enclosed it. Archaeological excavation beneath the basilica has revealed successive phases of the city's history and the remains of its ancient civic centre.