Inside Pompeii’s Bourbonera treasure hunter tunnels

Dig reveals 18th-century tomb raiders went to great lengths to retrieve ancient Roman artefacts

The tomb raiders burrowed through layers of ash and pumice, relentlessly searching for ancient treasures by candlelight.

Now, centuries on, archaeologists have uncovered the tunnels used by the first explorers of the Roman city of Pompeii, which was preserved by a smothering blanket of volcanic detritus when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. And they have warned that the ancient site is still menaced by treasure hunters.

The tunnels, which were gouged through walls decorated with elaborate paintings, were dug by workers who were commissioned by the Spanish Bourbon dynasty, the rulers of Naples in the 18th and 19th centuries.

They have been discovered in a vast Roman villa that has recently come to light on the Bay of Naples.

Starting in 1748, tunnellers dug shafts into the ground and from there burrowed through the remains of the ancient city. They were satisfying the demands of the Bourbons, who developed a passion for finding ancient Roman treasures and displaying them in their palatial homes.

“They were like moles,” said Alessandro Russo, one of the architects who discovered the tunnels. “They dug a whole labyrinth of galleries. They were very narrow and would have been illuminated only by naked flames from candles. It would have been dangerous work.”

One of the newly found tunnels traverses a palatial reception room which once looked out on to a colonnaded portico and ornamental garden with fountains. Restorers standing on scaffolding carefully scrape away the dust and grime of centuries, revealing sumptuously decorated walls. On the floor, they are uncovering beautifully preserved mosaics made of coloured marble.

As they dug, the Bourbon tunnellers used shards of ancient terracotta roof tiles to shore up the walls of the tunnel and prevent it from collapsing.

“I’ve never seen a Bourbon tunnel like this, nor the use of ceramic materials to reinforce the walls,” said Dr Sophie Hay, a British archaeologist who has worked at Pompeii for 20 years. “It enables us to look at the history of the discovery of Pompeii, as well as that of the ancient Roman period. The tunnellers were looking for the best, shiniest pieces to put on display in their palazzi.”

Another tunnel bored through a different part of the villa, damaging walls decorated with images of leopards, griffins, deer and swans.

As the workers dug their way through the layers of hardened ash they had no idea what they were destroying until it was too late. They did, at least, leave the frescoes and mosaic floors intact because they were on the hunt for more valuable treasure.

The property is believed to have been owned by a Roman politician who evidently commanded a commercial empire in Pompeii.

Attached to it is a bakery where vast milling stones were turned in a dimly lit chamber with an adjacent latrine used by the slaves who came from all over the empire.

The legacy of the Bourbons is not all bad, said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Pompeii’s director.

“Without the excavations carried out by the Bourbons, Pompeii would not have been brought to light. It’s difficult to judge them. It’s easy to say they caused damage, but at the time there were no established methods and no professional archaeologists. Instead, they were largely architects or engineers who were commissioned by the Bourbons. They made errors, but we have learnt from those errors.”

But there are still subterranean pilferers searching for ancient treasures. In Italian they are known as “tombaroli” – tomb raiders who live on the outskirts of Pompeii in homes sitting on land which still conceals Roman villas not yet officially excavated.

“Today’s tomb raiders use exactly the same techniques as during the Bourbon period,” said Dr Russo. “It’s a big problem, all around the Pompeii area. They dig tunnels beneath their homes or gardens so they are very hard to detect. You can’t see them.”

In 2019, the authorities discovered an illegal tunnel that led from beneath a modern house on the edge of Pompeii down to the remains of a large rural villa in an area known as Civita Giuliana.

When they explored the illegal dig they came across an extraordinary find – an ancient Roman chariot with elaborate silver and bronze decorations and a stable with the remains of three horses.

“It’s difficult to combat the tomb raiders because they operate over a very large area,” said Dr Russo. “The good news is that it has become harder for them to sell whatever they find – there are much tighter checks on the trafficking of artefacts.”

‘The tunnellers were looking for the best, shiniest pieces to put on display in their palazzi’