Underground culture: Toledo station in Naples, Italy Available to Purchase

The multi-award-winning Toledo station on Metro line 1 in the Spanish quarter of Naples, Italy, has been described as one of the most impressive and beautiful in the world. Designed by architect Oscar Tusquets Blanca and completed in 2012, the station also uniquely serves as an underground museum, blending iconic architecture, contemporary artworks and 500-year-old archaeological remains. In the 5 years since its opening the station has won many awards and helped Naples win the 2019 World Tunnelling Congress. This paper first describes the excavation of the station’s unusually large platform access tunnel in unstable water-bearing soft rock and loose sand, which required a complex combination of cement–chemical grouting, ground freezing and extensive monitoring. It then explains how archaeology, architecture and art were successfully integrated into the resulting underground spaces.