The Certosa di San Martino

The Certosa di San Martino is a monastery in Naples, located on the Vomero hill, next to Castel Sant’Elmo. It is certainly one of the most important religious monumental complexes in the city. It has around a hundred rooms, two churches, four chapels, three splendid cloisters and hanging gardens.

by Alessia Giannino

The Certosa di San Martino is a monastery in Naples, located on the Vomero hill, next to Castel Sant’Elmo.

It is certainly one of the most important religious monumental complexes in the city. It has around a hundred rooms, two churches, four chapels, three splendid cloisters and hanging gardens.

The history

The charterhouse was inaugurated and consecrated in 1368, under the reign of Queen Giovanna d’Angiò (Joanna of Anjou), although the Carthusian monks had already taken it over back in 1337. It was given a Gothic style which, however, changed to Baroque in the seventeenth century thanks to the architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio, the driving force behind the change in style, who was entrusted with the works between 1589 and 1609.

From 1618 to 1623 the works passed to Giovan Giacomo di Conforto, who completed the project begun by Dosio. Then, until 1656, the architect Cosimo Fanzago left his artistic mark, completely transforming the complex in Baroque style. The façade of the church and the interior marble decorations, together with the two chapels, the marble busts and the prior’s cemetery, were in fact created by Fanzago. The painters who worked in the phase following the restoration of the complex were among the leading figures of seventeenth-century Neapolitan art: Jusepe de Ribera, Battistello Caracciolo, Paolo Finoglio, Luca Giordano, Massimo Stanzione.

In 1799 the Carthusian monks were driven out for Jacobinism, later returning in 1804 only to be expelled once again in 1807. They were only readmitted in 1836 and finally removed for good in 1866, when the museum was annexed to the charterhouse.

Following the Unification of Italy, finally, the Certosa di San Martino was included among the suppressed ecclesiastical properties and declared a National Monument.

The Certosa di San Martino today

From the monastery’s two cloisters you can access the Museum, laid out over two levels, inside which all the testimonies of the life of Naples and the Southern Kingdoms were gathered, and can still be admired today. On the first level we find several sections, such as the Pharmacy, the Carriage Room, the naval section, the Nativity Scene section, the gardens, the Quarto Priore, the Museum of the Opera and the section dedicated to the historical memories of the Kingdom of Naples. On the second level, meanwhile, there is the Nineteenth-Century Gallery, the Theatrical section, the Alisio section and the Prints and Drawings section.

Since December 2014 the Certosa and the San Martino Museum have been managed by the Polo Museale della Campania (Campania Museum Network). Every year thousands of tourists from all over the world come to visit these Neapolitan treasures.

Where: Largo San Martino 5
When: every day, from 8.30am to 7.30pm; closed on Wednesdays. Free entry on the first Sunday of the month and for EU citizens under 18.