Welcome to the site Napoliforme

The most famous monument in ancient Cumae, from Virgil's Aeneid to the present day, is the cavern of the Cumaean Sibyl. It is a dark and disturbing place with 'a hundred doors' (the side openings that provide air and light to the tunnel) and a portentous wind that whirls and shuffles the leaves on which the Sibyl writes her responses to the god Apollo (Aeneid VI, 56-64, 105-110). Already in late antiquity, it is believed certain that this is the sacred place of Virgil's tale, where the prophecies of Apollo's priestess reveal to Aeneas his destiny of blood and glory. In reality, archaeological studies indicate that the mysterious tunnel dug into the tufa is an ancient tunnel (late 4th-early 3rd century BC; 131.50 metres long, 2.40 metres wide and almost 5 metres high) used to protect the acropolis of Cumae. In Roman times it took on the form we know today and continued its military function, equipped with cisterns in the three minor arms that open out on the left side, before becoming a cemetery area in Christian times. The tunnel, lit by six lateral galleries on the side facing the sea, gives access to a vestibule and a rectangular room with a vaulted ceiling and three niches in the walls: this is the room described in Virgil's verses, the home of the oracle. And the long corridor that follows the side of the mountain up to the room dug out of the tuff really does appear to be the cavern of otherworldly rituals practised in the semi-darkness crossed by blades of light. The suggestion is extraordinary and perhaps the Sibyl is still here.