In Marino you can have an unusual experience, that of visiting the underground village represented by a dense network of tunnels dug into the peperino stone.
Some of these underground ‘homes’ can be visited like those under Palazzo Colonna and Palazzo Matteotti.
The underground caves were opened in 1999 and the exhibition itinerary includes both a display and explanation of the geology of Marino and the Castelli Romani and in eno-gastronomic routes that lead to the discovery of the flavours of the territory such as the DOC Marino wine and the Extra Virgin Olive Oil of the Castles.
It is worth noting that during the Second World War these tunnels were a place of refuge during the bombing and have been inhabited for a long time by entire families of displaced persons.
Marino and Rome are connected by the fact that they were built thanks to the peperino, a volcanic rock that has been excavated in the area.
Rome was also built thanks to this rock and in Marino you can still recognize the ancient Roman quarries.
The passage crossed by the Via dei Laghi in the stretch of Marino originally was at a different higher altitude.
The current road, in fact, traverses what were once the great peperino quarries of Rome. Along some lateral walls there are some openings which are the remains of lateral passages of the quarries of the past.
With the fall of the empire and the transfer of the population from the lower area to the fortified hill on which the medieval village of Marino still stands, the quarries along the way were abandoned and the inhabitants built the village by digging directly under the houses.
For this reason every house has a cellar and a dense network of tunnels characterizes the entire historic centre.
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