Campi Flegrei Volcanic Wineries

Wine from an active supervolcano. The Phlegraean Fields (Campi Flegrei) were a playground for Roman emperors and a source of volcanic wines. Visit family wineries on crater rims with views of the still-steaming caldera.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Taste the Wine That Survived the Plague That Killed Europe's Vines Wine · Price: moderate

   Cantine Astroni stands on the outer slopes of a volcanic crater. The vines here were never grafted — because the volcanic sulfur in the soil is toxic to the phylloxera louse that destroyed 90% of European viticulture in the 1870s.

   In 1870, the phylloxera louse arrived from America and methodically killed every ungrafted vineyard in France, Spain, and most of Italy. But here, in the volcanic ash and sulfur-laced lapilli soil of the Astroni crater, the louse suffocated and died. These Falanghina vines — some over 100 years old — are still growing on their original Roman-era roots. When you taste the Vigna Astroni Falanghina at Cantine Astroni (Via Sartania 48, Naples), you're tasting a wine that grows on soil chemistry unchanged since Augustus. Book by email (info@cantineastroni.com) or phone (+39 081 5884182) for the guided tasting (approx. €35) that includes three wines with Neapolitan finger food. Ask specifically for the Vigna Astroni Falanghina — the single-vineyard cru from the crater slopes.

   Backup: If the full tasting is fully booked, arrive for the outdoor self-guided walk among the vines and buy a bottle of Vigna Astroni at the shop (approx. €14-18). The shop is generally open without advance booking.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Find the Columns That Prove a Volcano Swallowed a City and Gave It Back History · Free

   Three marble columns stand in an open-air pit in central Pozzuoli. They look ordinary. Then you notice the holes — riddled from 3.5 meters up to 7 meters. Those holes were made by marine mollusks that can only live underwater.

   Look at the three standing marble columns at the Macellum of Pozzuoli (Via Serapide 1, Pozzuoli). The bottom 3.5 meters are clean marble — they were always above ground. From 3.5 meters to 7 meters up, the stone is riddled with thousands of tiny holes made by Lithophaga mollusks — marine bivalves that bore into stone only while submerged underwater. These columns were underwater. The Campi Flegrei supervolcano subsided slowly between approximately 700 AD and 1500 AD, lowering the entire waterfront of Pozzuoli by 6-7 meters below sea level. Then the volcano inhaled again — the ground rose, the water receded, and the Roman market building re-emerged from the sea. This is why the wine tastes the way it does. Stand at the base of any column and look up — the line where the holes begin is the ancient waterline.

   Backup: If the interior is closed, the columns are fully visible from the surrounding open-air courtyard, which is not gated. The exterior view is equally powerful.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Descend Into the Machine That Fed 40,000 Romans Their Blood Sport History · Price: low

   Below the arena floor of Pozzuoli's Flavian Amphitheater — the third largest in Rome's empire — lies the best-preserved Roman hypogeum in existence. The Colosseum's underground gets more press. Pozzuoli's is more intact.

   Built under Vespasian and Titus — the same emperors who built the Colosseum — the Pozzuoli amphitheater held 40,000 spectators. But it's what's BELOW the arena that stops people cold. The hypogeum sits 7 meters underground: a maze of corridors, cages, and elevator shafts connected by gears and pulleys. Animals were loaded into cages at ground level, winched up through shafts, and released through trapdoors directly under the feet of gladiators who had no idea what was coming. This is a Roman killing machine, preserved. Visit the Anfiteatro Flavio (Via Terracciano 75, Pozzuoli) — only 25 visitors permitted every 30 minutes, book at campaniartecard.it or headout.com. Follow the guide down into the hypogeum where the smell changes immediately: old stone, humidity, mineral darkness.

   Backup: If at full capacity, the exterior perimeter walk is free and gives a sense of the scale. Return on the first Sunday of the month for free entry.

   Log Memory
4. 4 Drink Wine Aged in the Cisterns That Watered the Roman Fleet Wine · Price: moderate · Optional

   La Sibilla in Bacoli ages their wine underground — in the stone cisterns of a Roman aqueduct that once supplied the Piscina Mirabilis, the freshwater reservoir for Emperor Augustus's Mediterranean fleet. The Romans built it to water warships. The Di Meo family uses it to make wine.

   Luigi Di Meo's great-great-grandfather planted these vines at La Sibilla (Via Ottaviano Augusto 19, Bacoli). They are still on the same roots — ungrafted, pre-phylloxera stock, some over 100 years old. But the wine is aged in the stone cisterns of the Aqua Augusta aqueduct, which was built after 33 BC to supply freshwater to Augustus's entire Mediterranean war fleet stationed at nearby Misenum. The Romans drank water from here as they staged campaigns across the Mediterranean. The Di Meo family now maintains the same stone chambers at constant temperature and humidity — but for Falanghina instead of fleet water. Call ahead: +39 081 8688778 or email info@lasibillavini.it. Ask Vincenzo (the winemaker) or Salvatore (the sommelier) to show you the cisterns — taste the Piedirosso last for the volcanic signature that arrives 15 seconds after swallowing.

   Backup: La Sibilla wines are available at several Naples enotecas if the winery visit is not possible. Ask for La Sibilla Vigna Madre Piedirosso at any serious wine shop in Naples.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• Cantine Astroni makes excellent Falanghina from within an extinct crater

• Visit the Solfatara crater to see active volcanic vents

• The Romans built luxury villas here - see Baia's underwater archaeology

• Combine with Pozzuoli's amphitheater, the third largest in Italy