Consecrated May 3, 1497. Exactly 523 years have passed: half a millennium. A really important time in spite of which we can still observe it in all its magnificence. Immersed in the quiet of fields, it appears to us as if lying down. And the Charterhouse of Pavia.
Certosa di Pavia: born from a vote
At its origins, the story of a mother. Caterina Visconti, wife of Gian Galeazzo, who in 1385 saw her first painful pregnancy fail. Caterina and Gian Galeazzo, Lords of Milan, turned to the Virgin and pronounced a vote. Give each male child who is graciously given the middle name of Mary. And so it was in fact: Giovanni Maria and Filippo Maria Visconti came. But it is not this vow that interests us, but a second one pronounced precisely between the birth of a male child and the other. In fact, between the two surviving heirs, Caterina suffered a very difficult third pregnancy. The child was lost and the mother was saved by a miracle.
As gratitude to the virgin for the life spared, Catherine made her second vow, this time decidedly more material: she ordered theconstruction of a Carthusian monastery near Pavia. The story is witnessed precisely in this way by Bernardino Corio, who told it in his own "The History of Milan" of 1503.
The Charterhouse project was developed about 8 km north of the city of Pavia. Very dear area to Caterina. The works began under the dukedom of Gian Galeazzo but lasted for years. It was his sons who presided over the first fndation. A work continued even after the conquest of the duchy by Francesco Sforza. And up to Ludovico il Moro.
The church
The Charterhouse was officially consecrated on 3 May 1497 in front of a very large crowd who found themselves celebrating a building that was actually not completely finished. Another solemn ceremony had already taken place in 1474. A large procession, four thousand souls who, starting from the Castle of Pavia, moved towards the construction site. A rite to honor its founder, Gian Galeazzo, whose ashes were transported to the church.
As evidence of the celebration, the bas-reliefs that decorate the entrance portal remain today. The church was conceived as a dynastic mausoleum of the ducal family. To answer the function she had imagined a grandiose construction with three naves. And then pinnacles and arches. Elements that intertwine different styles, children of different architectural eras. From late Gothic to Renaissance. But the beauty of the church owes a great deal to the context in which it is inserted. The monastery with its cloisters and galleries.
The monastery
According to the story of Bernardino di Corio, precise indication of Caterina was that "A Carthusian monastery should be built with twelve friars". And the cloistered monks who initially inhabited it were actually twelve. Income from fields and estates gradually allowed the complex to be enlarged. And several religious orders alternated there over the centuries. Today it's up to the Cistercians.
Next to the monastery, today the Certosa Museum is located, administered by the Superintendence for historical assets of Milan. Where the historical and family notes that have been the foundations of this Italian jewel that bears its 523 years with unchanged grace will be accessible to you in detail.
