Baldassare Forestiere, born July 8, 1879, leaves his home in Sicily as a young man and immigrates to the United States where he works as a subway digger in Boston and New York before moving to Fresno in 1904, where he buys 70 acres to become a citrus grower.
Bothered by the oppressive heat of Fresno summers, during which temperatures can soar to upwards of 115 degrees, Forestiere recalls the coolness of the ancient Roman catacombs near his hometown in Sicily. In his free time he begins putting his subway-digging skills to work during his spare time, hollowing out a cellar to escape the heat.
Using only a hand axe, shovel, and wheelbarrow to dig through Fresno’s notorious hardpan, Forestiere carves out an entire underground home with both a summer and winter bedroom, a bath and working kitchen. Temperatures are a pleasant 65 to 80 degrees.a summer bedroom, a winter bedroom, a bath, a functional kitchen,
He adds courtyards for pockets of light, skylights and plants multiple trees, grapevines and other greenery. Over 40 years, he creates 65 rooms, tunnels, a chapel, a fish pond, and garden areas over a 10-acre space. All from his imagination, without blueprints of any kind.
He is 67 years old when he dies in 1946; his underground oasis later becomes a California Historical Landmark.