The Charterhouse of Garegnano, the first Carthusian monastery in Lombardy

La Certosa, a place of peace within Milan

The guided tour of Certosa di Garegnano will take us to a special place in Milan: a true oasis of peace for the tranquility it still emanates, a place of art and culture for the precious frescoes it preserves. Bernardo Zenale, a painter appreciated at the court of Ludovico il Moro, Simone Peterzano, master of Caravaggio, and many others: in fact, the most important authors in the history of art in Milan and beyond have worked here over several centuries. It is not difficult to get there. Right at the mouth of the Autostrada dei Laghi highway, the Certosa di Garegnano stands on the site that takes its name. Once a small hamlet in the countryside 4 kilometers from the city center, in the area of the ducal park that extended beyond the Castle and the city walls, it is now incorporated into the city and reached from Viale Certosa: now you have discovered why this avenue is named after it! But the surprises are not over…

A literary stay at the Charterhouse of Garegnano

The guided tour takes you inside this ancient monastery, founded in 1349 by Giovanni Visconti, archbishop and austere ruler of the city, and later distinguished among the leading ecclesiastical buildings of Renaissance and Baroque Milan. The first Carthusian monastery in Lombardy, this place also hosted many illustrious figures over the centuries: from the poet Francesco Petrarch, who appreciated it so much that he called the Certosa beautiful and noble, to Lord Byron, who visited Garegnano together with Stendhal, in 1816, and was struck by its splendid frescoes. Downsized by the more recent growth of the surrounding urban fabric, the monastery still holds splendid artistic treasures. The tale of our professional guides will get lost amid stories and legends related to the Certosa di Garegnano and its decorations, so rich and that the monastery church contends for the palm of Milan’s Sistine Chapel with the Church of San Maurizio, another splendid masterpiece of art in our city. During the visit you will imagine the woods that anciently surrounded the Charterhouse of Garegnano and hear, for example, the story of some brigands who, on a dark night in 1449, managed to enter it to plunder it of all its treasures.

Tales from the Charterhouse

And how can we not also remember the legend that has as its protagonist Daniele Crespi, a painter engaged, after Peterzano, in the famous frescoes in the Charterhouse depicting the birth of the Carthusian order and the life of St. Bruno: the story goes that the artist, in order to learn how to paint with astonishing realism the grimaces of a dying man, killed a man and, in order to then escape arrest, took refuge with the Carthusians who took him in until his last years of life. Curious to explore the Carthusian Monastery, its treasures and secrets thanks to our guided tour? All you have to do is participate.