Miles of tunnels under Naples uncovered in BBC documentary

Historian Michael Scott says series builds most complete picture yet of 'jigsaw' of underground world

The historian Michael Scott's worst moment in the miles of tunnels deep under Naples, which he has been exploring for a BBC documentary, came not from fear of earthquake or volcanic eruption, nor among crumbling Roman quarries or the eerie rusting remains of cars seized and dumped under Mussolini's regime. However, he was extremely unhappy when, in a cramped, airless space heated by volcanic gases, reached by a narrow, 2,000-year-old passage, he met a scorpion.

"It was a small scorpion, but it was a very confined space, and all I thought I could remember about scorpions is that the small ones are more venomous. I stayed very, very still and tried to look unthreatening until it went away."