Along the ancient road leading to Pavia, on the Corso del Naviglio stands La Certosa. The site used to be the enormous ducal park of Castello di Pavia. La Certosa is one of the greatest works of monumental Lombardian architecture and a wonderful example of late gothic and renaissance Lombardian architecture.
Commissioned in 1396 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti as a family mausoleum, the building was started by Bernardo da Venezia and Giacomo da Campione. When Galeazzo died in 1402 works were suspended (except for the monastery which was finished in 1452), until 1428 when Giovanni Solari and subsequently his son Guiniforte took on the project and modified the church which was declared finished in 1497, except for the monumental facade which was only finished in 1600.
The interior of the church takes the form of a Latin Cross and the three naves are flanked by 14 chapels (originally conceived in gothic style and today weighed down by stuccoes and baroque decoration. These chapels house a large number of great works of art by painters (Perugino and Bergognone) and sculptors (Solari).
One passes through the splendid portal sculpted by Amadeo in 1466 into the small cloisters probably the work of Guiniforte Solari. The harmonious proportions and the remarkable brickwork decoration which surround them are the most important part of the entire complex of buildings.
Next door the large cloisters are to be found with the twenty four monks cells facing them. Initially they were inhabited by Carthusians, and since 1947 Cistercian monks have called it home.
Milan