La Certosa

La Certosa is an impressive castle complex perched on the peak of Monte Acuto (now called Monte Santo) just outside of Galluzzo, a small town on the outskirts of Florence. A working monastery, the walled complex contains the monastery, a study hall or library, the church, and rooms. Certosa came to be under the persuasion of Niccolò Acciaioli, a powerful Florentine political figure during the 1300s who went on to become the Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples and Viceroy of Puglia. Soon after the completion of the interior, the Cetosino Monastic Order, cloistered monks, took residence and over the course of time they continued to build and enlarge the complex from within, creating what we see today. The monks also commissioned significant works of art from artists from all over Italy, but unfortunately many of the artworks have been stolen over the centuries and the course of many robberies. By 1957 the Certosian Monks had gone and the government passed the monastery to the Benedictine Cistercian Monks who opened this beautiful monastery with its church and peaceful courtyards to the public, free of charge.

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