The Chartreuse of Padula and the city of Padula

The extraordinary monastery of the Chartreuse of Padula, one of the largest in the world with its 51,500 square meters, is one of those places capable of reconciling with mankind, transforming misanthropy into gratitude, retracting any negative evaluation of one’s fellow humans. The incredible sense of grandeur aroused by this structure, in fact, is a testimony not only to the opulence of the Carthusian order, which expanded a previous building donated by the Sanseverinos of Teggiano in 1306, but also to the creative abilities of man: for four centuries, until the Napoleonic suppression, every limit, architectural and aesthetic, was broken. You enter from the external courtyard, where the brothers traded with the outside world and the facade (1718-23) shines in all its baroque elegance. After the guesthouse, with eighteenth-century frescoes, and the rigorous cloister (1561) made up of a portico, the loggia above and the fountain in the centre, here is the church which, despite the French raids of the early nineteenth century, keeps its magnificence intact thanks to the highly refined altars in scagliola and mother of pearl, and the two wooden choirs (of lay brothers and monks), separated by the iconostasis.

The wonders of the Chartreuse are innumerable: from the Treasury Hall to the ancient cemetery, from spacious kitchens like a luxurious apartment to the Archaeological Museum of Western Lucania (which houses vases with black and red figures and urns from nearby necropolises dating back to the 6th century BC) , the visit is an inexhaustible alternation of open and closed spaces, narrowings and sudden expansions of lines and perspectives, feelings of intimate recollection or boundless freedom. However, it is only by crossing the threshold of the hermitage area that one understands why the site is an obligatory stop on any trip to Campania: the immensity of the large cloister, built between the mid-17th century and the end of the following century, and the welcoming rooms of the monks’ cells (today adorned with works of contemporary art) inextricably link the concept of spirituality to that of beauty, as well as transmitting even to less interested travelers the seductive temptation of retreat. At the end, the elliptical staircase with two flights concludes the enthralling itinerary.