Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno, California

I won’t lie. I get jealous sometimes. I’ll catch a show on the History Channel or Travel Channel visiting these amazing castles, catacombs and dungeons, and I can’t help but get a little jealous. I love modern, too, and I love sky scrapers, but I guess there’s a primal attraction to stone that just can’t be replaced.

I have a feeling that Baldassare Forestiere, the sole builder of the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno, California, felt exactly the same way.

Now here’s something really cool. On the northwester edge of the very modern city of Fresno, California is a vast network of underground stone tunnels, rooms and courtyards built over 40 years by one man, a few humble digging tools and a mule or two. The home and passion project of Sicilian immigrant and one-time subway digger Baldassare Forestiere, the awe-striking Underground Gardens are today a nationally-protected historic place and one-of-a-kind visitor attraction.

Head to Fresno and discover the incredible world of Forestiere. The 50-minute guided tour leads you to several rooms throughout the underground complex, with fascinating stories all along the way. You’ll learn quickly that the gardens are as much an achievement of brains as of brawn.

Not content with a stony labyrinth alone, Forestiere filled his creation with fruit-bearing plants and crafted intricate systems for providing them both light and fresh rain water. The microclimates are no less impressive. Temperatures from one room to the next may vary up to 20 degrees, a feature intended by Forestiere himself so that he may escape the desert heat of Fresno whenever he desired. He even had a parlor, fireplace, kitchen and fish pond.

Moment to moment, room to room, you will be filled with wonder. This place is truly something else!

Visit the Forestiere Underground Gardens at 5021 W Shaw Avenue in Fresno, California. The peak season is ongoing and runs through September with six tours daily. The adult tour price is $12, and it’s worth every penny. Learn more about the Underground Gardens here.

Traveling in? For Fresno hotels, we like the Holiday Inn Fresno Downtown Hotel. It’s got your expected plusses – free high-speed Internet, free parking on the weekends, kids eat free program – along with a really cool 7^th floor restaurant that’s perfect for a special evening.

Have fun!

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