Marino Sotterranea

Beneath Marino's streets, galleries cut into peperino record a long history of quarrying and reuse. The underground spaces served as wine cellars and, during the air raids of 1944, as shelters. Marino Sotterranea brings this archaeology of daily life into view.

Why it matters

Quarrying of the volcanic stone beneath Marino began in Roman times and continued through the Middle Ages. Later generations put the resulting caverns to work as cellars for wine and as shelters during wartime. The galleries reveal how the same underground spaces were adapted to the town's changing needs.

What to notice

The galleries are cut in peperino, and pick marks preserve traces of extraction. Vertical shafts once linked cellars to houses above. In the district of the former church of Santa Lucia, the underground route connects with a Roman cistern preserved beneath the civic museum. Some galleries display objects recovered during cleaning, including everyday ceramics and material associated with wartime use.

Context and history

Peperino cellars stored wine in the town known for its vineyards and grape harvest. During the Second World War, the galleries served as air-raid shelters. A restoration financed through the European POR FESR 2007–2013 programme consolidated the vaults and established a public circuit, managed by the Archeoclub dei Colli Albani. The association also cares for the nearby painted Roman mithraeum.