Lombardy
La Certosa di Pavia

Photo © Denis Dontenville

La Certosa di Pavia

Photo © Luigino C.

Certosa di Pavia is the name of a famous monastery complex in Lombardy, Italy, situated near a small town (in Province of Pavia) with the same name.

Certosa is the Italian name for Charterhouse, which relates to the cloistered monastic order. The late medieval (northern Italian gothic) Certosa of Pavia is noted for a highly decorated facade and church interior.

The Certosa di Pavia contains a detailed bas-relief depiction of the founding on 27 August 1396 of the structure by Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1351 - 1402).

It contains the tomb of the first Duke of Milans of Milanese, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and of despots such as Ludovico Sforza ("The Moor"), 7th Duke of Milano (1452 - 1508 (46)), and his wife Beatrice d'Este.

Ludovico the Moor Tumb - Photo © Marco Bonavoglia

In the church of the chartreuse there are also paintings and frescoes by Perugino, Bergognone, Bernardino Luini, Andrea Solari, Cerano, Morazzone, Guercino, Daniele Crespi and Giulio Cesare Procaccini and sculptures by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo and Cristoforo Solari.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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One of the most magnificent of all monastic structures, the Certosa di Pavia has been maintained as a national monument since 1866. The church, forming its nucleus, was begun in the style of the Italian Gothic in 1396 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milano.

Little more than the nave was executed in this style, since the Renaissance, diffusing its new taste, quickly dominated the design of the edifice. The facade seems to have been begun in 1491 by a group of architects and sculptors under the leadership of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo; it was finished in the mid-16th cent.

Built of rich marbles and profusely ornamented with fine sculptural decorations, the facade of the Certosa di Pavia is one of the masterpieces of Renaissance decorative design. The two large arcaded cloisters are of richly ornamented terra-cotta. The main choir was badly damaged in World War II but was restored between 1953 and 1959.

 One day trips from Milan without a car:
 Milan on foot
 Milan - Chiaravalle Abbey
 Bergamo Alta
 Bologna
 Isola Comacina on Lake Como
 Lecco and Bellagio by boat
 Como and Bellagio by boat,
 Isole Borromee on Lake Maggiore
 Arona, Angera on Lake Maggiore
 Arona, Rocca di Angera on Lake Maggiore
 Villa Taranto on Lake Maggiore
 Mottarone on Lake Maggiore
 Lake Maggiore, Arona to Stresa by boat
 Stresa - Locarno, a day boat trip
 The Garda Lake - a day boat trip
 Pavia, the city
 Pavia, the Certosa
 Portofino in winter
 

© 1997-2010 Enrico Massetti
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