Grotta di Cocceio

The Grotta di Cocceio (Cocceius' Tunnel) is an ancient Roman tunnel nearly a kilometre in length connecting Lake Avernus with Cumae and dating from 38-36 BC. It was burrowed through the tuff stone of Monte Grillo by the architect Lucius Cocceius Auctus at the command of Agrippa who was in the process of converting the Lake into a military port, the Portus Julius.

The tunnel was wide enough to allow the passage of two wagons. The Avernus side of the passage was decorated with a colonnade and had many statues in niches hewn into the tuff walls of the entrance. Light and air were provided by six vertical shafts dug into the hill (the longest of which was over thirty metres high)

The Aqua Augusta aqueduct supplying the port was dug in a tunnel parallel to and on the northern side the road and was also equipped with niches and vertical shafts.

The Crypta Romana tunnel was also built nearby from Cumae to its port in the same period, as well as other tunnels in the vicinity (e.g. the Crypta Neapolitana).