Florence Certosa
Florence Certosa
art site
Via Senese, Firenze, Italia
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The Certosa rises monumentality on a hill just a few kilometers south of Florence. Founded in 1342, the charterhouse underwent a series of modifications until the XVII century. In 1957 it was transferred from the Carthusian monks to the Cistercians who still reside there today. The sixteenth century staircase leads to the Pinacoteca (picture gallery). The outstanding jewel is a series of lunettes frescoed with scenes depicting the Passion of Christ by Pontormo. The great Mannerist painter, had fled to the Certosa in 1523 to escape the plague in Florence and it was here that he executed one of his last, intense masterpieces for the large cloister. A large plaza leads to the church of San Lorenzo, founded in the fourteenth century, and remodeled in the sixteenth (with frescoes of the life of St. Bruno by Poccetti and wooden stalls). Another beautiful room houses the funeral monument to Niccolò Accaiuoli, who founded the Certosa. The monument has been attributed to Orcagna. Most impressive, because of the harmony, proportions and silence, is the big cloister. The broad, central lawn with the sixteenth century cistern in the middle, is bounded by a Renaissance portico onto which the eighteen monks’ cells open, revealing the autonomous structure of the individual living quarters
art site
Via Senese, Firenze, Italia
Show on map
The Certosa rises monumentality on a hill just a few kilometers south of Florence. Founded in 1342, the charterhouse underwent a series of modifications until the XVII century. In 1957 it was transferred from the Carthusian monks to the Cistercians who still reside there today. The sixteenth century staircase leads to the Pinacoteca (picture gallery). The outstanding jewel is a series of lunettes frescoed with scenes depicting the Passion of Christ by Pontormo. The great Mannerist painter, had fled to the Certosa in 1523 to escape the plague in Florence and it was here that he executed one of his last, intense masterpieces for the large cloister. A large plaza leads to the church of San Lorenzo, founded in the fourteenth century, and remodeled in the sixteenth (with frescoes of the life of St. Bruno by Poccetti and wooden stalls). Another beautiful room houses the funeral monument to Niccolò Accaiuoli, who founded the Certosa. The monument has been attributed to Orcagna. Most impressive, because of the harmony, proportions and silence, is the big cloister. The broad, central lawn with the sixteenth century cistern in the middle, is bounded by a Renaissance portico onto which the eighteen monks’ cells open, revealing the autonomous structure of the individual living quarters