Padula Charterhouse, in
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
Certosa di Padula (or ''Certosa di San Lorenzo di Padula''), is a large
Carthusian
The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has i ...
monastery, or charterhouse, located in the town of
Padula
Padula ( Cilentan: ''A Parula'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is the home of the Carthusian monastery Certosa di San Lorenzo, sometimes referred to as the Certosa di Padula. As of 2 ...
, in the
Cilento National Park, in
Southern Italy. It is a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
.
The monastery is the largest in Italy. Its building history covers 450 years, but the principal parts of the buildings are in
Baroque style. It is a very large monastery, comprising 51,500 m
2 (12.7 acres), with 320 rooms and halls.
History
Padula Charterhouse was founded by
Tommaso di San Severino on 27 April 1306 on the site of an earlier monastery. It is dedicated to
Saint Lawrence, and its architectural structure supposedly recalls the
griddle-iron upon which the saint was burnt alive.
The monastery has the biggest
cloister
A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...
in the world, covering 12,000 m
2 (2.97 acres) and surrounded by 84 columns. A famous spiral
staircase of white
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
inside an annex leads to the large library.
According to the strict Carthusian distinction between
contemplation
In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with prayer or meditation.
Etymology
The word ''contemplation'' is derived from the Latin word ' ...
and work, there are two distinct places for these practices: on the one hand the peaceful cloisters, the library with its fine Vietri ceramic tiled floor, the chapels decorated with fine inlaid marble works. The altar frontals in most of the chapels are inlaid, not with marble, but with some of the most spectacular 18th. century
scagliola
Scagliola (from the Italian ''scaglia'', meaning "chips") is a type of fine plaster used in architecture and sculpture. The same term identifies the technique for producing columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements that resemble inla ...
work ever created. This is the highest concentration of such work in one place. One of the centres of production was in Naples. the cloister orchards; and on the other hand the large kitchen,
the cellars with their enormous wine vats, the laundries, and the huge external yards, where there were people working in the stables, ovens, stores, and at the olive oil mill. The yards were used for productive activities and for trade between the charterhouse and the external world.
The monastery also houses the archaeological museum of Western Lucania, which preserves a collection of all the finds unearthed in the excavations at the
necropolis of
Sala Consilina
Sala Consilina is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southwestern Italy. With 12,635 inhabitants it is the most populated town of Vallo di Diano.
History
The ancient village of Consilinum was built during ...
and
Padula
Padula ( Cilentan: ''A Parula'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is the home of the Carthusian monastery Certosa di San Lorenzo, sometimes referred to as the Certosa di Padula. As of 2 ...
. This museum represents a period of time ranging from
protohistory
Protohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, in ...
to the
Hellenistic Age
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
.
The building has also played a role in the military history of Italy. It served as French headquarters during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, then as a base of
Garibaldi
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, pat ...
's Southern Army during the
Risorgimento
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
, finally, as an internment camp for prisoners during the World War 1 and World War 2. It was here that the
Czechoslovak Legion in Italy
The Czechoslovak Italian Legion was a legion of Czechoslovak volunteers formed late in World War I. The first formal Czechoslovak Volunteers Group ( cs, Československý dobrovolnický sbor) was formed in Italian prisoner-of-war camps in Santa Ma ...
was established in 1917.
References
External links
Villaprato
1306 establishments in Europe
14th-century establishments in Italy
Christian organizations established in the 14th century
World Heritage Sites in Italy
Carthusian monasteries in Italy
Monasteries in Campania
Buildings and structures in the Province of Salerno
{{Christian-monastery-stub