The Monastery of Padula - The Chartreuse of Padula - La Certosa di Padula - St. Lawrence Carthusian Monastry - La Certosa di San Lorenzo

Another amazing undisclosed place in the Cilento National Park in the Southern Italy !

François Lenormant, professor of archaeology at the National Library of Paris in 1883, when visited the Chartreuse of Padula on his journey through Southern Italy wrote:
"I went to sit in the Great Cloister. There were many clouds, driven by a violent wind, passing swiftly in front of the full moon producing continuous sudden changes that ranged from profound darkness to brilliant light. There is nothing more enchanting than the effect of these drops of nocturnal light which at times reveal the architecture in all its extraordinary purity down to the smallest detail, and at times conceal it completely. These sudden changes in light seemed to conjure up white phantoms in the depths of the porticos as though the ghosts of the old inhabitants of the monastery had risen, as was their custom, to celebrate night office. I would willingly have stayed until dawn... but tiredness was the stronger. Sleep overcame me and I had to return to my cell where I immediately slept... despite the intense cold and the wind which swept in freely through the glassless windows ".

St. Lawrence Carthusian Monastry is one of the most impressive buildings of all the Southern Italy, and, as usual, it is virtually unknown to the people that look for a cultural holiday in Italy. It is the second largest Chartreuse in Italy after the one in Parma. It was founded by Tommaso San Severino in 1306 on the site of an existing coenoby. It is dedicated to St. Lawrence, and its architectural structure recalls the grate upon which the saint was burnt alive. According to the stern carthusian rules between contemplation and work in use in the Chartreuse there are two distinct places for these practices: the peaceful cloisters, the library with its nice fine Vietri ceramic tiled floor, the chapels decorated with fine inlaid marble works, the cloister orchards ; and the large kitchen - where the legendary one thousands egg omelette was cooked for Charles V -, the cellars with their enormous wine vats, the laundries, and the huge external yards, where there were people working at the stables, ovens, stores, and at the olive oil mill. The yards were used for productive activities and for trade exchanges of the Chartreuse with the external world. The Monastery houses the archaelogical museum of Western Lucania, which preserves a collection of all the finds unearthed in the excavations at the necroplis of Sala Consilina and Padula. This museum represent a period of time ranging from proto-history to the Ellenisitc Age.