In Rome you can visit the ancient underground aqueduct that brings water to the Trevi fountain still today.
With over 2700 years of history, Rome is not only what you see on the surface level. There is a whole city underneath the modern one, including an underground site beneath the Trevi Fountain.
Imagine being in the most crowded location in Rome, the Trevi fountain. You navigate through the crowds of selfie-sticks and big groups of tourists. But then you turn the corner and discover a little cute alley with no people.
You notice there is a small open door.
You walk in.
A minute later you’re looking at the underground aqueduct of the Trevi Fountain.
Everyone traveling to Rome goes to the Trevi fountain, but very few of them know that you can go underneath and discover where all the water of the Trevi fountain comes from.
Underground the Trevi fountain: what is it?
With “Trevi fountain underground” we mean the archaeological site where you can visit the ancient Roman water reservoir of the Aqua Virgo. The Aqua Virgo was the aqueduct inaugurated in 19BC by Agrippa, the right-hand man of the emperor Augustus.
Still today this aqueduct brings water to the most famous fountains of Rome, such as the Trevi fountain, the fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona and the Barcaccia fountain by the Spanish Steps. This is the only ancient Roman aqueduct, out of the 11 aqueducts built in ancient Rome, that still functions today. After more than 2000 years!
In the archaeological site under the Trevi fountain you can see not only the water reservoir, but also the ruins of an ancient Roman luxury house and Medieval buildings. In fact you don’t have to think of this water reservoir as an isolated building in the middle of nowhere. It was an infrastructure surrounded by many other buildings.
This is a super “lasagna of history”, which is not very easy to decipher on your own. That is why we recommend going with a guide that gives you simple but in-depth explanations to understand and truly appreciate the layers that you will see while down there.
Is the Trevi fountain Underground worth visiting?
Absolutely yes. First of all, because going underground and exploring Rome underneath the surface level is always super exciting.
When visiting this site, make sure you go with a tour guide that knows this place well. You will get an understanding of the layers of Rome, how the city grew, making buildings and streets among the ancient ruins. The things that you’ll learn from visiting the underground will allow you to understand the city on your own also after this experience.
How to visit the underground of the Trevi fountain?
We recommend making the most of this special experience with a tour guide that knows this place like their pockets. This underground archaeological site is 10x more fun if you get the context and an explanation that is not too technical or academic. You could also get an audio guide for that, but that will give only the notions of the place. A guide will uncover for you the story behind the place, the life of people just like us that happened here. And the stories are what you will remember after the experience.
During our best-selling walking tour Underground the Trevi fountain, we won’t just give you the basic notions, but we’ll tell you also the rest of the story. We’ll follow the track of the ancient aqueduct starting from Piazza di Spagna (by the Spanish Steps) until the Trevi fountain, on a real journey through water. And on the way we’ll be casually finding parts of the aqueduct appearing below the modern buildings, including a modern shopping mall! These are things that can only happen in Rome.
You can find out more about this walking tour here.
Here is what our wonderful guests have been saying about this tour 😊
Check out this tour here: Underground the Trevi fountain walking tour
