The Charterhouse of St. Lorenzo in Padula, an ideal mystical city of modern Campania

The Certosa di Padula, a 14th-century Carthusian monastery in Campania's Vallo di Diano, embodies a unique architectural vision blending Eastern influences, local traditions, and classical Greek elements without adhering to early Christian models. Unlike typical monastic retreats, it functions as an 'ideal mystical city,' reflecting Thomas More's Utopia through its rigid separation of cloistered contemplation spaces and communal areas, bounded by the desertum—a cultivated green space symbolizing the transition to Civitas Dei ('City of God'). This study reveals how the monastery’s design, rooted in models from Trisulti (Lazio) and Grenoble, challenges conventional classifications while serving as both a spiritual sanctuary and an interactive urban ideal. The research analyzes its evolution from foundation to 18th-century renovations, highlighting its dual role as a hermit’s domain (upper domus) and a cenobitic community (lower domus), marked by the threshold inscription 'Felix coeli porta' ('Blessed gate of heaven').

Castanò, F. (2019). The Charterhouse of St. Lorenzo in Padula, an ideal mystical city of modern Campania. Resourceedings, 2(3), 52–57. https://doi.org/10.21625/resourceedings.v2i3.625