Forestiere Underground Gardens

Since 1996, Forestiere Underground Gardens has been providing Museum from Fresno.

Tours are given only when weather permits, call ahead to verify dates and times.

Sicilian immigrant Baldassare Forestiere spent four decades (1906–46) carving out an odd, subterranean realm of rooms, tunnels, grottoes, alcoves, and arched passageways that once extended for more than 10 acres between Highway 99 and busy, mall-pocked Shaw Avenue. Though not an engineer, Forestiere called on his memories of the ancient Roman structures he saw as a youth and on techniques he...

The Experience
Beneath Fresno is a curious network of tunnels built by Baldasare Forestiere, an Italian immigrant who previously worked on the New York City subway system. Using only a...

Forestiere Underground Gardens are a true earth environment that remain somewhat untouched from their original beginnings. The tour grounds have small rooms and narrow passageways, which cannot accommodate throngs of visitors. Dirt pathways have some uneven areas and good walking shoes are recommended.
To preserve the character of the grounds and ensure a safe and pleasant visit for everyone,...

Starting in 1906 Sicilian immigrant, Baldassare Forestiere combined his knowledge of farming with his observations of the Roman architecture of the Mediterranean to hand-excavate worthless farmland into a spectacular maze of underground caverns. No dynamite was used, no plans were made; every idea originated in Forestiere’s head as he went. By 1923 he had carved out over 10 acres of connecting...