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CHARTERHOUSE OF ST. LAWRENCE

Viale Certosa, 84034 Padula SA

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Reach places

TRANSPORTS

  • CAR

    Via A1/E45 and A2. Continue on SS19 driving in the direction of Viale Certosa. Padula-Buonabitacolo exit. Continue on SS 19 in the direction of Viale Certosa

  • BUS

    From Salerno, it is possible to reach Certosa with the Curcio and Lamanna bus lines. On Sundays, there is also the Certosa Link departing from Salerno station

  • TRAIN

    There is no train station in Padula, but you can get off at Battipaglia or Sapri and from there take one of the replacement buses provided by Trenitalia

The Carthusian monastery in the Baroque style

The Carthusian monastery of St. Lawrence is the largest monastic complex in southern Italy as well as one of the most insteresting in Europe in terms of architectural magnificence and amount of artistic treasures.

The architectural style is mainly Baroque, in fact there are very few surviving 14th century traces. The complex has about 350 rooms and takes up a sufrace of 51.500 m², 15.000 m² of which occupied by the cloister alone, the largest in the world. The Charterhouse of St. Lawrence, due to its vast size, is second only to the Charterhouse of Grenoble in France. This Carthusian monastery, the first to be erected in Campania, was founded by Tommaso of San Severino in 1306 and dedicated to St. Lawrence. It includes three cloisters, a garden, a courtyard and a church.

It is possible to divide the architectural layout of the Carthusian of Padula in two areas: the first includes the work areas while the second is the monk’s residential area. The structure of the charterhouse, just like the other charterhouses, follows che Chartusian rule, that is “work and contemplation”. Because of this, in the structure there are different places for their fulfillment: the cloister, the library, where it is possible to admire the floor made of Vietri ceramic tiles, the Chapel decorated with precious marbles, the large kitchen, the large wine cellars, the laundries and the neighbouring fields where the fruits of the earth were cultivated for the sustenance of the monks.

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  • The Carthusians left Padula in 1807, during the French decade of the Kingdom of Naples, when they were deprived of their possessions in the Vallo, Cilento, Basilicata and Calabria. The rich furnishings and all the artistic and book assets were almost entirely lost and the monument experienced a state of precariousness and neglect. Declared a national monument in 1882, the Carthusian Monastery was taken over by the Superintendency of Architectural Heritage of Salerno and restoration work began in 1982.
  • The church is decorated with 18th century golden plasters that overlap a structure that certainly dates back to the 14th century. Next to the series of striking side chapels are the Chapter Hall, rich in 18th century plasters, and the Treasure Chapel, which was a sort of safe where the church's rich furnishings were probably kept and protected.
  • The elliptical double flight stairway, the last work the fathers managed to see realised before the French suppressions, joins the two levels of the great cloister. This work appears as a majestic scenic element illuminated by its seven large windows overlooking the surrounding landscape. The large garden of seclusion corresponds only slightly to the 18th century layout, mainly due to the interventions made during the two world wars to build prisoner shelters.
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Glimpses and perspectives

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